i probably should watch the reference to understand this better. The animal 'learning' piece is super interesting as an adult. i think preschoolers will take away that some birds talk and can be taught words. 1. EXT PARK -- DAY Open on SENOR TAPIR in the park of Animal Town, sitting on a tree stump at the edge of a pond. There are three different GUITARS next to him, one RED and two BLUE ones. One blue guitar is bigger than the other one. A group of kids sit at his feet, including ELINOR, ARI and OLIVE. SENOR TAPIR I want to play a blue guitar today. How many blue guitars do I have? EliNOR Two! SENOR TAPIR Right! And which one is bigger? Elinor points quickly to the bigger blue guitar. Olive That one! SENOR TAPIR Those questions are easy for you. But did you know that some birds can answer those questions too? Ari Really? A bird that talks? SENOR TAPIR Yes! I have a song about a bird that knew over 100 words! Tapir picks up the bigger blue guitar, starts to <MFX: STRUM> and sings. After a line or two, we transition to a simpler style of animation that describes what he is singing. During the song, Senor Tapir sings in a “parrot” voice every time a word in the song is capitalized and in “quotation marks.” TRANSITION TO: 2. INT PET STORE AND IRENE’S LAB -- DAY Irene Pepperburg gets Alex the Grey Parrot from a pet store, Alex perches on her arm, Alex sits on her shoulder and looks at her, etc. SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) (singing) Irene Pepperburg wanted to see, “Is a parrot smart enough to talk to me?” She knew parrots could copy some words, but could she teach it to TALK to her? She got a grey parrot from the pet store, and invented a way to teach him more! We see Irene teaching words to Alex alongside a “model/rival” [Reference: See 5:30-5:35 of https: // www.pbs.org /video/ nova-sciencenow-profile-irene-pepperberg-alex / ] Her idea worked and people were shocked, Alex the parrot could actually talk! “MORE!” Irene gives Alex a piece of food and Alex says. She gave him cake. He said “YUMMY BREAD.” - be literal here kids will think the parrot got the bread wrong because cake and bread arent the same thing SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) “MORE!” Irene gives him another treat and continues to work with Alex, showing him different colored blocks, numbers, pieces of paper, etc. We see a close up of Alex’s face and eyes. So she said, Hey there Alex, let’s get you talkin’ , answering questions with a hundred words. Hey there Alex, let’s see you thinkin’, solving puzzles like a brainy, bright bird. Irene holds up two blue KEYS in front of Alex the Parrot. Alex’s beak opens when he says “blue” and “two.” She said what color? He said “BLUE”. She said how many? He said “TWO”. Close up of Irene’s hands holding up two pieces of paper, one green and one red. The red one is noticeably larger. Alex looks at the paper and his beak opens when he says “red.” Her hands hold up an entire cake next to Alex, who opens his beak to say “yummy bread.” Which one’s bigger? He said “RED”. She gave him cake. He said “YUMMY BREAD.” Hey there Alex, let’s get you talkin , answering questions with a hundred words. Hey there Alex, let’s show you thinkin’, solving puzzles like a brainy, bright bird. END SONG: TRANSITION TO: 3. EXT PARK -- DAY SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) And that’s the story of Irene Pepperburg and her smart parrot, Alex. So, amigos , tell me what you’re thinking. elinor That we want MORE music! Tapir grabs his red guitar. SENOR TAPIR That’s the answer I was hoping for! He starts to <MFX STRUM> ======== Note from Emily DuVal , our bird expert on how Pepperburg’ work is perceived in the scientific community: “She’s a fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, and I lectured on her cognition work last Wednesday (including pointing out that you’d think it would be a bad idea to base your PhD on one parrot, but she pulled it off). I’ve seen her speak in packed-room seminars at Berkeley and at conferences. Legit. “

EWWW107 Interstitial D1 25-Feb-19 .

Pepperburg thinkin’

.

ELINOR WONDERS WHY 107 interstitial: senor tapir Written by LAURA SAMS FOLLOWS: “bird song” CONNECTION: BIRD COMMUNICATION CURRICULUM: Irene Pepperburg was the first scientist to wonder whether birds were smart enough to communicate with people. She figured out that Alex the Grey Parrot was not only smart, but could tell her what he was thinking. SEP1 . Ask and/or identify cause and effect questions that can be answered by an investigation. (Senor Tapir replicates Irene Pepperburg's work with Alex the Parrot inj a song) FIRST DRAFT: 25-FEB-19 SENOR TAPIR Kids ELINOR SALLY BEAVER GOAT TWINS TAPIR Ari Olive (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) INT EXT I/E 1 FOLLOWS: "THE AMAZING EXPANDABLE CLUBHOUSE" EXT PARK -- DAY DAY NIGHT AFTERNOON MORNING EVENING LATER MOMENTS LATER CONTINUOUS THE NEXT DAY CUT TO: FADE IN: FADE OUT. FADE TO: DISSOLVE TO: BACK TO: MATCH CUT TO: JUMP CUT TO: FADE TO BLACK.