The African grey parrot that could identify objects by color, shape, and material was Alex.
Alex was the most famous subject in Irene Pepperberg’s studies of parrot cognition. Through structured training, he learned to use vocal labels for properties of objects and could answer questions about what he was shown.
His reported abilities included identifying colors such as red, blue, and green; recognizing shapes; and distinguishing materials including wood and metal. He could also respond to questions involving quantities and comparisons, such as whether objects were the same or different or which was larger.
These results were important because Alex’s responses went beyond repeating a trainer’s sounds. The experiments were designed to test whether his labels were connected to objects and concepts. Alex did not possess human language in the full grammatical sense, but his demonstrated conceptual learning made him a landmark figure in animal-intelligence research.