On Thu, 16 Apr 2009, John Thornton wrote:
> Michael calls Alex's documented behaviors an "endearing trick" but has no
> reason to label it as such.
Well I thought the last thing he said before he died was very endearing: "I love you."
But if you think Alex uses language, that's fine with me. My suggestion about language was purely conditional: IFF you want to look for a unique trait, language is the one that seems one of your best bets, next to toolmaking. Naturally it requires defining language (or toolmaking) as being above some thresh-hold.
But my main point remember is that this isn't how species are defined. They're defined by clusters of traits, and that isn't hard at all.
Michael