Here's a weird one...

[geochron]

Just a bit of fun to distract us from the great debate!

Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
------------------------------

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

(Up until this point I was wondering if it was one of our correspondents who shall remain nameless ;) ...)

Continues at...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3430481.stm

Strange. My first thought is that it's a scam like Clever Hans.

[grmorton]

Just a bit of fun to distract us from the great debate!

Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
------------------------------

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

(Up until this point I was wondering if it was one of our correspondents who shall remain nameless ;) ...)

Continues at...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3430481.stm

Strange. My first thought is that it's a scam like Clever Hans.

Mine as well. Two comments. It is claimed he knows more words than have ever been taught to a chimp, and two, he is clearly smarter than humanity. He has been able to learn the human form of communication, while the human has been unable to learn a single word in parrot-speech.

Can someone tell me where the smilies have gone in this new set up?

[Didaktylos]

Maybe this is an April Fools' Day article that escaped early?