Parrot

Many: see text.

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A parrot is any of the many birds belonging to the family Psittacidae. Parrots have a characteristic curved beak shape with the upper mandible having slight mobility in the joint with the skull and a generally erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl, having the four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two back.

Related Topics:
Bird - Family - Zygodactyl

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Along with the cockatoo family (the Cacatuidae), the parrot family makes up the order Psittaciformes. The term "parrot" can be used in either the narrow sense of the parrot family Psittacidae or the broad sense of the order Psittaciformes.

Related Topics:
Cockatoo - Order - Psittaciformes

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Birds of the parrot family can be found in most of the warm parts of the world, including India, South East Asia and West Africa, with one species, now extinct, in the United States (the Carolina Parakeet). By far the greatest number of parrot species, however, come from Australasia, South America and Central America.

Related Topics:
India - South East Asia - Africa - United States - Carolina Parakeet - Australasia - South America - Central America

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Many species can imitate human speech or other sounds, and at least one researcher, Irene Pepperberg, has made controversial claims for the learning ability of one species; an African Grey Parrot Alex, has been trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" (with over 80% accuracy). Other scholars claim that parrots are only repeating words with no idea of their meanings and point to Pepperberg's results as being nothing but an expression of operant conditioning.

Related Topics:
Speech - Irene Pepperberg - African Grey Parrot - Alex - Operant conditioning

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Parrots are kept as pets, particularly conures, macaws, amazons, cockatoos, cockatiels, and budgerigars (also known as parakeets). Often the wings of such birds are clipped, but many people keep flighted pet parrots. Parrots live longer than other birds, with lifespans ranging from 40-80 years. In 2004, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper carried the story of a female Macaw supposedly born in 1899, and subsequently a pet of Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War; the aged parrot, called Charlie, was still wont to curse the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A//www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid%3D13832640_method%3Dfull_siteid%3D50143_headline%3D-F----THE-NAZIS--SAYS-CHURCHILL-S-PARROT-name_page.html&ei=qmsHQ8LsJ7-AQueAlcQO Subsequent research strongly suggested that the parrot had never belonged to Winston Churchill, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3414323.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3417353.stm although Charlie's great age was not in question.

Related Topics:
Pet - Conures - Macaw - Amazon - Cockatoo - Cockatiel - Budgerigar - 2004 - Daily Mirror - 1899 - Winston Churchill - Great Britain - Second World War - Charlie - Nazis - Adolf Hitler

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The very attractiveness of parrots as pets has led to a thriving - often illegal - trade in the birds, some species of which are now threatened with extinction. The scale of the problem can be appreciated when one considers the Tony Silva case of 1996, in which a world-renowned parrot expert and former director at Tenerife's Loro Parque (Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the US for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling the birds 1. The case rocked conservationist and ornithological circles, leading to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.

Related Topics:
Tony Silva - 1996 - Tenerife - Loro Parque

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Escaped parrots, like other exotic animals, can represent a potential threat to local ecosystems if they become established in the wild. This is now occurring in Spain, in both Barcelona and Tenerife. Several species, including Red-lored Parrots (Amazona autumnalis), Lilac-crowned Parrots (Amazona finschi), and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets (Brotogeris chiriri), have become well-established in Southern California. A sizeable population of feral parots is reported in and around London, England, thought to have descended from escaped or released pets. The largest such population is thought to be in Esher, Surrey, numbering several thousand Indian ring-necked parakeets (Psittacula krameri). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1773012,00.html

Related Topics:
Barcelona - London - England - Esher - Surrey - Psittacula krameri

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