UPDATE–ANIMALS TALKING.

UPDATE–ANIMALS TALKING. I posted here about the death of Alex the parrot, who had learned 150 words. Here is a skeptical account of the language abilities of animals from Professor Clive Wynne of the University of Florida (link via artsandlettersdaily). Alex the parrot had shown that he understood the concepts of “bigger”, “same” and “different.” Professor Wynne concludes that, despite the accomplishments of chimpanzees. bonobos and gorillas, that “Descartes was right, there really are no beasts, no matter how fortunately circumstanced, that can make known their thoughts through language.” His reason is that no animal has yet shown the ability to learn grammar.