my normal approach is useless here
Tonight is a very weird night emotionally... Struggling with the concept of science as an objective study and compassion in terms of emotion.
Ironically this stems from only two things: Alex & Me, by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, and a "scientific" survey I'm currently doing on button quail owners which includes their personal experience with them and whether they consider their button quails as tame pets.
Alex & Me is the loving tale of Dr. Pepperberg's experience with birds, her roots as a scientist, and how this brought her to her present day research on African Grey Parrots and their capability to produce language. Her most prized, most famous, and arguably most dear parrot to her is Alex. It's a wonderful book and worth reading.
Dr. Pepperberg emphasizes the notion throughout her book that yes, Alex was a "colleague" and not a "pet". Alex was kept in order to deliberately be trained. For some reason, the concept of keeping Alex in a "cold, unfriendly" lab environment and subject to constant COGNITIVE (not experimental, biochemical, or physically strenuous) tests, rather than as a companion animal in the scientist's personal home somehow seems to register with die-hard pet fanatics as a statement that Alex was unloved and abused.
Relatedly, I currently set out a survey directed towards button quail owners about their upkeep and relationship with their button quails. I figured it'd be a more "scientific" and hands-on approach, since I'm more than willing to learn from people's experience with these birds before I own one of my own. One of my first button quail surveys that I received back blatantly stated that button quails are "not tame". I should have expected this, considering that the majority of research I have done has shown that most quail owners are breeders, or as just another addition to an aviary full of other birds (button quail are often picked for their "janitorial" skills of picking up bird seed from more messy eaters).
I'm not sure why, reading this first survey made me fully realise that the opinion of most quails being "un-tameable" is more common than I originally had thought. This opinion actually hurts my feelings for some reason.
Both of these things bother me for good reason. In the case of Alex & Me, Dr. Pepperberg is a scientist. She is not casually shopping for another parakeet to keep around the house -- she trains animals which she has to be capable of objectively talking about in academia. Those who cloud their logic with emotional and overly personal anecdotes are not taken seriously in academia, and for good reasons. I doubt I would trust the scientist who proposes a new medicinal treatment if they were to present their findings through an anecdote which involved giving a household remedy to their child. Plus, language is such a sensitive topic in academia (especially in linguistics) that logic is the best way to prove your point, rather than telling that one story about how you were able to get your parrot to talk. So many objective questions come up that, of course, one would NEED to answer them with an objective answer.
Yes, Dr. Pepperberg distanced herself. No, that does not mean that she didn't care for Alex, that she abused him, or any of those horrible, conflated accusations. She constantly refers to Alex as a close colleague, the same as anyone would call a respected individual which they worked immensely with. She obviously seems to care about Alex enough, and mentions many moments in her book where even though she built an emotional barrier, he was able to penetrate through it and soften her heart. Honestly, I feel like the fact that she devoted 30 years of her life to his well-being and wrote a book memorializing his life shows how much she cares. I feel that the people who assume this are those who are seeing their animals too much as pampered "pets", and cannot separate this idea from how anyone else should treat animals, no matter how respectful others are.
On the flip side... I feel that the button quail survey I've done is the exact opposite. Although I don't see myself as one of those obsessive pet owners, I feel that it's important to see each domesticated animal as one worth building a relationship with. I'll be the first to admit I don't talk about my pets at length (arguably, this is because I've had Khodi for more than a decade, most of my pets are "unusual" such as bettas, mice, chickens, etc, and not everyone really likes to listen to pet praddle). However, I do my best to bond with them and try to understand them as individual creatures. Every animal is "tameable" -- not to follow commands or do tricks, per se, but to be docile, friendly, and capable of interacting with people.
It's hard to describe how this particular survey made me feel without having to describe the entirety of its contents, but I just feel like this is true of most quail owners I have read about. I've read on so many quail websites that they don't see quails as "good pets" (which is ironic, because these are judgments MADE by quail owners). I feel that most quail owners don't take the time to interact with their quails other than daily care. Ironically, the very doting behavior that people show towards their parrots that disliked Dr. Pepperberg's approach is the very behavior that I wish more quail owners would exhibit. I feel that most of the research I've done on button quails shows the owners having an unpersonalized, too objective perspective of button quails.
I might be wrong, but I feel like depending on their treatment and training, most animals including quails are capable of interacting with humans. Most animals, especially birds, take a while to get acclimated to their environment and if the human trainer isn't seen as a non-threatening, common part of their environment they will not adapt to them. It also really seems to depend on what people consider as playing and interacting with a pet, too. Taking care of mice is definitely different from taking care of a giant German shepherd mix, and I'd treat both differently when I play with them. A common philosophy in dog training is that the dog isn't the one that's acting badly, it's the trainer... and similarly, depending on a person's perspective of an animal and how to treat the animal, a loving relationship may or may not be established.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass though, since I've never owned a bird :\ But I feel that the majority of pet keeping philosophy can be applied across the board. The more research I do, the more this fact is apparent.
Sigh, today's been a weird day emotionally... The survey, the book, the book reviews, a work shift from hell, plus a video on sex offenders that hit a chord all too close to my heart... I really wish I could just stop thinking so much, ugh. My brain doesn't know how to shut up ._.
Ironically this stems from only two things: Alex & Me, by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, and a "scientific" survey I'm currently doing on button quail owners which includes their personal experience with them and whether they consider their button quails as tame pets.
Alex & Me is the loving tale of Dr. Pepperberg's experience with birds, her roots as a scientist, and how this brought her to her present day research on African Grey Parrots and their capability to produce language. Her most prized, most famous, and arguably most dear parrot to her is Alex. It's a wonderful book and worth reading.
Dr. Pepperberg emphasizes the notion throughout her book that yes, Alex was a "colleague" and not a "pet". Alex was kept in order to deliberately be trained. For some reason, the concept of keeping Alex in a "cold, unfriendly" lab environment and subject to constant COGNITIVE (not experimental, biochemical, or physically strenuous) tests, rather than as a companion animal in the scientist's personal home somehow seems to register with die-hard pet fanatics as a statement that Alex was unloved and abused.
Relatedly, I currently set out a survey directed towards button quail owners about their upkeep and relationship with their button quails. I figured it'd be a more "scientific" and hands-on approach, since I'm more than willing to learn from people's experience with these birds before I own one of my own. One of my first button quail surveys that I received back blatantly stated that button quails are "not tame". I should have expected this, considering that the majority of research I have done has shown that most quail owners are breeders, or as just another addition to an aviary full of other birds (button quail are often picked for their "janitorial" skills of picking up bird seed from more messy eaters).
I'm not sure why, reading this first survey made me fully realise that the opinion of most quails being "un-tameable" is more common than I originally had thought. This opinion actually hurts my feelings for some reason.
Both of these things bother me for good reason. In the case of Alex & Me, Dr. Pepperberg is a scientist. She is not casually shopping for another parakeet to keep around the house -- she trains animals which she has to be capable of objectively talking about in academia. Those who cloud their logic with emotional and overly personal anecdotes are not taken seriously in academia, and for good reasons. I doubt I would trust the scientist who proposes a new medicinal treatment if they were to present their findings through an anecdote which involved giving a household remedy to their child. Plus, language is such a sensitive topic in academia (especially in linguistics) that logic is the best way to prove your point, rather than telling that one story about how you were able to get your parrot to talk. So many objective questions come up that, of course, one would NEED to answer them with an objective answer.
Yes, Dr. Pepperberg distanced herself. No, that does not mean that she didn't care for Alex, that she abused him, or any of those horrible, conflated accusations. She constantly refers to Alex as a close colleague, the same as anyone would call a respected individual which they worked immensely with. She obviously seems to care about Alex enough, and mentions many moments in her book where even though she built an emotional barrier, he was able to penetrate through it and soften her heart. Honestly, I feel like the fact that she devoted 30 years of her life to his well-being and wrote a book memorializing his life shows how much she cares. I feel that the people who assume this are those who are seeing their animals too much as pampered "pets", and cannot separate this idea from how anyone else should treat animals, no matter how respectful others are.
On the flip side... I feel that the button quail survey I've done is the exact opposite. Although I don't see myself as one of those obsessive pet owners, I feel that it's important to see each domesticated animal as one worth building a relationship with. I'll be the first to admit I don't talk about my pets at length (arguably, this is because I've had Khodi for more than a decade, most of my pets are "unusual" such as bettas, mice, chickens, etc, and not everyone really likes to listen to pet praddle). However, I do my best to bond with them and try to understand them as individual creatures. Every animal is "tameable" -- not to follow commands or do tricks, per se, but to be docile, friendly, and capable of interacting with people.
It's hard to describe how this particular survey made me feel without having to describe the entirety of its contents, but I just feel like this is true of most quail owners I have read about. I've read on so many quail websites that they don't see quails as "good pets" (which is ironic, because these are judgments MADE by quail owners). I feel that most quail owners don't take the time to interact with their quails other than daily care. Ironically, the very doting behavior that people show towards their parrots that disliked Dr. Pepperberg's approach is the very behavior that I wish more quail owners would exhibit. I feel that most of the research I've done on button quails shows the owners having an unpersonalized, too objective perspective of button quails.
I might be wrong, but I feel like depending on their treatment and training, most animals including quails are capable of interacting with humans. Most animals, especially birds, take a while to get acclimated to their environment and if the human trainer isn't seen as a non-threatening, common part of their environment they will not adapt to them. It also really seems to depend on what people consider as playing and interacting with a pet, too. Taking care of mice is definitely different from taking care of a giant German shepherd mix, and I'd treat both differently when I play with them. A common philosophy in dog training is that the dog isn't the one that's acting badly, it's the trainer... and similarly, depending on a person's perspective of an animal and how to treat the animal, a loving relationship may or may not be established.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass though, since I've never owned a bird :\ But I feel that the majority of pet keeping philosophy can be applied across the board. The more research I do, the more this fact is apparent.
Sigh, today's been a weird day emotionally... The survey, the book, the book reviews, a work shift from hell, plus a video on sex offenders that hit a chord all too close to my heart... I really wish I could just stop thinking so much, ugh. My brain doesn't know how to shut up ._.