For the longest time, scientists believed that a large primate brain was needed to solve complex problems related to language and understanding. But then came Alex. An African Grey Parrot, Alex was bought by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg from a pet shop and Pepperberg soon discovered that Alex was a highly intelligent bird.

At just two years old, he was compared to Albert Einstein (huge accolade for a human, let alone a parrot) and was answering questions made for a six year old human. The parrot reportedly identified 50 different objects and could understand concepts of “bigger”, “smaller”, “same” and “different".

Still, they’re only the second most iconic parrot/human duo after that girl and her (missing) bird named Chanel.