The parrot seems to be able to read her owner's thoughts. Not only that, but she can say them out loud. The parrot is the latest addition to a database that includes 2,700 case histories of pets and their unexplained behavior. For many of these believers, Sheldrake is a hero. For others, he's a former Cambridge don who has gone off the deep end.
Sheldrake has support among dog lovers, though.
Sheldrake studied philosophy at Harvard and took his Ph.D. at Cambridge, where he was director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Clare College. But you won't find him at Cambridge these days. The garden is overrun with hollyhocks. Sheldrake has studied case histories of psychic cats, chickens and ferrets, and he has performed more than 100 videotaped experiments on a mixed-breed terrier in northwest England. The terrier, Jaytee, was adopted as a puppy from the Manchester Dogs' Home in 1989 and formed a close bond with his owner, Pamela Smart.