Alex (1976 – September 6, 2007)[1] was an African grey parrot and the subject of a thirty-year (1977–2007) experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. When Alex was about one year old, Pepperberg bought him at a pet shop.[2] The name "Alex" was an acronym for avian language experiment,[3] or avian learning experiment.[4]