Baby Parrot
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. [1] Subsequent research strongly
suggested that the parrot had never belonged to Winston Churchill, [2] [3]
although Charlie's great age was not in question.
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.
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). [4]
The source of this article and the photo shown is
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this
article is licensed under the
GFDL
Post nasal drip, lose weight, diabetes, Alzheimer's, more
how to clean athletic shoes, get rid of roaches
Guides for Better LivingHow to Cope with Life's Problems