Alex, an African gray parrot whose linguistic and other talents helped a Brandeis University professor demonstrate that not all avians were bird brains, died last week in his Brandeis laboratory at the age of 31, The Boston Globe reported today. The professor, Irene Pepperberg, bought the 1-year-old parrot in 1977, and thereafter taught Alex a range of skills that made him the equivalent of a human toddler, in some respects. He had a 100-word vocabulary, could count to six, could recognize colors, and could understood concepts like “bigger,” “under,” and “the same.” He could even grasp the concept of zero. All that with a brain smaller than a walnut.

David P. Barash, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, wrote last month in The Chronicle Review that while “caution is called for when assessing claims of remarkable animal cognitive skills,” Alex “has proved astoundingly adroit, suggesting that birds may be the new dogs.”

More on Alex’s life and legacy appears in The Justice, the Brandeis student newspaper. —Andrew Mytelka