Re: Parrot worked to death?

"Joanne" <Joanne@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:13em6j66hf4c9bd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
| "M.J." <M.J.@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
| news:8zEGi.76$6p6.75@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
| > I strongly suspect that recent efforts to take the birds
| > thinking to a human like level of abstraction ('compound words')
| > may have dealt Alex a final blow.  Complex abstract thinking
| > is the stuff of most advanced creatures- primates/humans.
| >
| > Dr.Pepperberg just started to introduce Alex's brain fully to
| > this new world of more complex human like thinking.
| >
| > M.J.
|
| If you are right, wouldn't a necropsy have determined some abnormal
brain
| tissue physiology?  You can be sure this bird didn't get the slam-bam
type
| of necropsy most pets and breeders do.
|
| I hope they preserved his brain tissue (bet they did) for future, more
| advanced testing as it becomes available.
|
| I wonder if they would have admitted to something as simple as a virus
or 
an
| infection brought in by an assistant's lack of hygiene. (You know me - 
Queen
| of "the germs are out to get our darlings" theory!)

Can I just ask a question here?

How unheard of is a bird like this dying at 31?

I have a scientific colleague who had some type of bird like this
(different 
species) for several years.  One year it died suddenly and I'm guessing it

was not wildly far from 31 based on what I know of the history.  Jaws
didn't 
drop.

sharon