Previously I have blogged quite a bit about one of Pearl’s and my favorite parrots, the late African Grey wunderkind, Alex, and his book, “Alex & Me” with trainer/owner Dr. Irene Pepperberg.
This of course explains why I was so delighted to discover recently that there is also a VIDEO.
Called “Life With Alex: A Memoir,” the hour-long documentary film features real footage of Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Arlene Levin-Rowe (then manager of the Pepperberg Lab) and graduate students working with Alex, Griffin and Wart, the three African Grey parrots around whom Dr. Pepperberg’s research centers.
If you visit www.lifewithalexmovie.com, you can watch the trailer.
Which of course will simply make you impatient for the whole film to arrive.
My copy arrived just in time for Father’s Day, and since Alex is also one of my father’s (aka Pearl’s Grandpa, aka the Tall Tree) favorite parrots, we all settled in for an enjoyable afternoon of watching Alex and discussing Alex, and then discussing other parrot-related topics and, of course, scratching the itchy neck feathers of a certain hookbilled family member who wanted to make sure things didn’t get too Alex-centric for his liking.
“Life With Alex” is a fabulous film. For starters, it features a parrot (always a plus).
A percentage of sales proceeds also goes to benefit The Alex Foundation, the national non-profit Dr. Pepperberg started to continue to support research into the intelligence of African Grey parrots.
Also, it has valuable lessons all parronts can benefit from.
For instance, did you know that parrots’ messy eating habits have an evolutionary purpose?
The film explains how, in the wild, parrots eat bits of their favorite foods and then let the rest fall to the forest floor to enrich the soil and cause new plant life to grow.
So in captivity, when a parrot (let’s say Pearl for instance) consumes choice bits of waffle, pizza crust, houseplant leaves or millet and then allows the copious rest to scatter, the intention is not to force Mommy to buy a separate dustpan and broom set for each room of the house.
The intention is to repopulate the forest floor with vibrant new growth for future generations to enjoy.
To learn more about “Life With Alex: A Memoir,” order the DVD, and contribute to the Alex Foundation: http://alexfoundation.org
