parrot

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Zoo Tries New Tactic With Its Foul-Mouthed Parrots

8 swearing birds get integrated with the rest of the flock

(Newser) - There's nothing like cussing parrots to take the family fun out of a visit to the zoo. That was the predicament England's Lincolnshire Wildlife Park faced in 2020, when it took in five African gray parrots who could be mistaken for the love children of a sailor and...

Rescuers Save Woman, and Her Parrot, on Cliff
Polly Want a Mountain Rescue?

Polly Want a Mountain Rescue?

Woman and her bird got stranded on Welsh mountain

(Newser) - The good news is that the woman was reunited with her pet parrot. The bad news is that in going in search of her lost bird, she ended up stranded on a Welsh mountain and in need of a rescue herself. The unidentified woman had set out with a group...

Video Calls Make Parrots Less Lonely
Parrots Love
Making Video Calls
to Each Other
NEW STUDY

Parrots Love Making Video Calls to Each Other

Interactions made lonely birds happier, researchers say

(Newser) - There are an estimated 20 million pet parrots in American homes and researchers say they might be happier if they could call each other sometimes. In the wild, the birds live in large flocks but as pets, they are normally alone or in small groups, the Guardian reports. Researchers taught...

Giant Parrot 'Squawkzilla' Is a First-of-Its-Kind Find

Extinct bird was more than half the height of an average human

(Newser) - Researchers believe they've found the largest known parrot to ever inhabit our planet, and it just happens to be about twice the size of the parrot it now dethrones. While the critically endangered kakapo of New Zealand can weigh close to 8 pounds, Heracles inexpectatus weighed an estimated 15....

Native Parrots Were Long Gone From US. Now, a New Influx
US' New Slew
of Feral Parrots
'Here to Stay'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

US' New Slew of Feral Parrots 'Here to Stay'

The birds are imported pets that escaped, as well as their descendants

(Newser) - Just two native species of parrots have existed in the US, and one of those species is now extinct, while the other can now be found only in Mexico. So how is it that there are now nearly 60 parrot species scattered in the wild across almost every state? They'...

Freddy Krueger the Parrot Apparently Won't Die, Either

Brazilian bird going strong despite being shot, bitten, stolen

(Newser) - Freddy Krueger, the bird, has a face to match Freddy Krueger, the fictional serial killer—which might've been its salvation. The Amazonian parrot sent to a Brazilian zoo four years ago after it was left blinded and burned by a bullet to the upper-beak in a police raid on...

Unexpected Find in Drug Bust: a Lookout Parrot

Parrot yelled, 'Mum, the police!' as Brazilian authorities closed in

(Newser) - Stool pigeons tell the police about criminals; parrots tell criminals about the police—or at least there's one that supposedly does in South America. Reaction online to a report out of Brazil's Piaui state is ranging from admiration to incredulity . There, police in the community of Vila Irma...

Michigan Woman Guilty of Murder Witnessed by Parrot

Glenna Duram will be sentenced next month

(Newser) - A jury has convicted a western Michigan woman of first-degree murder in the shooting death of her husband in a crime apparently witnessed by the man's pet parrot. The Newaygo County jury deliberated about eight hours before finding 49-year-old Glenna Duram guilty Wednesday of killing 46-year-old Martin Duram, reports...

Talkative Parrot May Be Used as Evidence in Murder Trial

Martin Duram's family believes Bud witnessed his final moments

(Newser) - An African grey parrot named Bud may get its day in court after all. Fox 17 reports Glenna Duram was charged with first-degree murder Thursday in her husband Martin Duram's May 2015 death. Martin's family has claimed that his parrot Bud likely witnessed the murder . After Martin was...

Family Says Parrot Is Key Witness in Man's Murder

'Don't f---ing shoot'

(Newser) - Can a foul-mouthed parrot act as a witness to a murder? That's the question Martin Duram's family wants answered after Duram was killed in his Michigan home in May 2015, WOOD reports. Weeks after the murder, Duram's African grey parrot, Bud, could be heard repeating the phrase...

In Weird Case, a Parrot Gets Detained by Police

Elderly woman says stepson trained bird to insult her

(Newser) - It seems that a parrot in India may have grounds for a lawsuit after police detained it without evidence for allegedly "hurling obscenities" at an 85-year-old woman. Over the past two years, the woman claims she has been subjected to "bad language and foul words" from the parrot...

Firefighters Follow Cries of 'Help,' Find Parrots

No humans or birds hurt in Idaho blaze

(Newser) - The fire department in Middleton, Idaho, says they're smart parrots—and if they hadn't been, they might be dead parrots. Officials say that when firefighters arrived at a house fire near Boise Friday night, they investigated cries of "Help!" and "Fire!" and, instead of...

Parrot Missing 4 Years Returns Speaking Spanish

Bird keeps talking about someone called Larry

(Newser) - A British man in Torrance, Calif., isn't quite sure where his parrot Nigel was for the last four years—but he's pretty sure a Spanish-speaking man called Larry was involved. Owner Darren Chick was reunited with the African gray last week after it was found in a backyard...

Parrot Helps Catch Owner's Murderer

It screeched whenever dead owner's nephew was near

(Newser) - The title of "man's best friend" might no longer go to dogs after this one: A parrot reportedly led detectives to its owner's murderer, the Times of India reports. Neelam Sharma, 45, was found stabbed to death along with her dog in the Indian city of Agra...

Parrot Saves Sleeping Couple From Fire

Pearly woke up his human pals in the middle of the night

(Newser) - NBC Miami has a tale of a hero parrot credited with saving the lives of a Fort Lauderdale couple who were sound asleep during a house fire. "What we heard was a screeching like we've never heard before," Laurajean Niesel tells the Sun-Sentinel . "We thought...

Bank Seizes House, Parrot of Wrong Borrower

Woman sues Bank of America after weeklong bird chase

(Newser) - A Pittsburgh woman is suing Bank of America, saying it padlocked her home, cut her water and electrical lines, and confiscated her pet parrot Luke while she was away—even though she wasn’t in default. The bank has apologized, but the woman, 46-year-old Angela Iannelli, says they didn’t...

Sex-Crazed Parrot Now NZ 'Spokesbird'
 Sex-Crazed 
 Parrot Now 
 NZ 'Spokesbird' 
NEW & IMPROVED PUBLIC OFFICIAL

Sex-Crazed Parrot Now NZ 'Spokesbird'

Kakapo that molested BBC presenter gets government job

(Newser) - New Zealand's prime minister has given a government job to the country's most famous—and probably most sexually adventurous—parrot. Sirocco, one of a rare species of flightless parrots called "kakapo," has been appointed as the country's "spokesbird for conservation." Sirocco became famous last year when...

Polly Steals a Passport
 Polly Steals a Passport 

Polly Steals a Passport

Winged New Zealand thief makes off with Scottish tourist's passport

(Newser) - One of New Zealand's native parrots now has a British passport, the AP reports. The kea, one of a notoriously brazen species of alpine parrots, snatched the brightly colored bag containing the passport from the luggage compartment of a stopped tour bus and flew off into the rainforest with it....

Scientists: Parrots Groove to the Beat

(Newser) - Yes, it's an actual study: Parrots can dance. Really and truly dance. A painstaking review of lab video—and YouTube—revealed that the birds have rhythm, the Boston Globe reports. Frame-by-frame analysis of birds’ motion to music shows that they bob and weave in perfect sync to a beat, a...

Cardinals Not Cute Enough? Try the Puppy Bowl

A parrot will sing anthem, kittens in halftime show on Animal Planet's Super alternative

(Newser) - Those uninterested in watching hulking giants meet on the gridiron Sunday have a decidedly cuter alternative: the fifth annual Puppy Bowl. Animal Planet broadcasts the event, which will feature puppies engaging in football-like action, a parrot singing the national anthem, and a halftime show where kittens are just kittens, the...

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