Congo African Grey Parrot – Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia

Unlike other parrots, wild African Greys have been documented imitating the calls of several other species.
Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s research with captive African Greys, most notably with a bird named Alex, has scientifically demonstrated that they possess the ability to associate simple human words with meanings, and to intelligently apply the abstract concepts of shape, colour, number, zero-sense, etc. According to Pepperberg and other ornithologists, they perform many cognitive tasks at the level of dolphins, chimpanzees, and even human toddlers.

One notable African Grey is N’kisi, who in 2004 was said to have a vocabulary of over 950 words and, like Pepperberg’s Alex, was noted for creative use of language. For example, when Jane Goodall visited N’kisi in his New York home, he greeted her with "Got a chimp?" because he’d seen pictures of her with chimpanzees in Africa.