parrots

11 Stories

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...

Video Calls Make Parrots Less Lonely
Parrots Love
Making Video Calls
to Each Other
NEW STUDY
Apr 23, 2023 3:10 PM CDT

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...

Park With Parrot Who Sings Like Beyonce Gets a Vulgar Surprise

5 birds have to be separated at UK venue after swearing at visitors

(Newser) - Eric, Jade, Elsie, Tyson, and Billy are getting separated. The five African gray parrots were recently donated during the same week, by different owners, to the UK's Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, but something strange happened after they were quarantined in the same room, then put on display together: They started...

Study Finds Surprising Trait of Parrots: Kindness
A Parrot Experiment
Surprises Researchers
NEW STUDY
Jan 10, 2020 10:13 AM CST

A Parrot Experiment Surprises Researchers

African greys selflessly help other birds

(Newser) - Parrots help their friends, even when there's no chance of personal benefit, according to a study suggesting altruism is more common than thought in the animal kingdom. Indeed, African grey parrots were found to voluntarily help a neighbor get a food reward even as they went without. The behavior...

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
May 19, 2019 12:10 PM CDT

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...

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...

Chatty Parrots Land Owner in NJ Court

Somebody didn't like their porch greetings

(Newser) - A pair of parrots in Avalon, NJ, apparently didn't get the memo that the borough would rather they shut their yappers. Birds Edmund and Arthur landed their owner Elaine Scattergood in court on Monday on a noise citation after police received a complaint in May, reports the Press of ...

Most Parrots Are Lefties
 Most Parrots Are Lefties 
study says
Feb 3, 2011 12:16 PM CST

Most Parrots Are Lefties

Like humans, they prefer one side over the other: Study

(Newser) - Parrots are left-handed … or at least, as left-handed as you can be when you don’t actually have hands. Australian researchers discovered that, like humans, nearly all parrots prefer to use one side of their body over the other: either their left eye and left foot, or right eye...

Watch Out for Drunk, Falling Parrots
 Drunk 
 Parrots 
 Falling 
 From Sky 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 6, 2010 6:25 AM CDT

Drunk Parrots Falling From Sky

Australians have to be on alert these days

(Newser) - It's that special season in Australia—you know, when stoned parrots drop from the sky in bunches. Every year around this time, the parrots begin eating some as-yet unidentified substance that renders them unable to fly or do much of anything. "They lose all balance and we do find...

11 Stories