the cruel art of counting

what’s so great about
a parrot who understands

the concept of zero?

i know an ant who understands
the concept of

three hundred million and ten.

she is something of a savant—

her abdominal gyrus is
particularly large

and we suspect that is where
she keeps her numbers.

i also once knew an African Grey
parrot named George

he was terrible at counting,
but well-practiced at

snatching ants up and eating them
when no one was looking.

when we asked him why he
practiced such a cruel art

he said, “because there’s
lots of you around,”

thereby illustrating the
limited utility of

a precise numerical
concept in nature




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1 thought on “the cruel art of counting”

  1. Birds are meant to live free on bicycles on roof tops on tree tops
    By law in Mexico cage must be 10×10
    Even jailbirds get an hour free
    has Alex felt the breeze the surf the wind?
    Leigh Roth Ph.d

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