Even though they continue to exist in the wild, parrots are now the most popular pet in the world. One of the biggest reasons why they’re so popular is because they’re smart. If you have a parrot at home, you will never feel lonely, play games with it and if you approach it correctly, you can even have small conversations by teaching it to talk.
Having hundreds of varieties, the colorful feathers of parrots are one of the features that make them unique. The fact that it lives much longer than other pet species also causes us to see it as a true friend. So how well do we know these hard-billed birds? Let’s take a closer look at some interesting information about parrots, some of which you will hear for the first time.
Interesting facts about parrot varieties:
- There are hundreds of different parrot species.
- Parrots’ food is similar to that of humans.
- Parrots are very intelligent and imitative birds.
- A parrot can be your lifelong companion.
- He is a true love bird.
- Parrot puppy care is very difficult.
- There is a parrot species like chicken.
- If he’s very hungry, he can eat you.
- If you go to India, leave your parrot at home.
- The legend that pirates keep parrots is based on an old novel.
There are hundreds of different types of parrots:
There are three different parrot families identified so far; Psittacoidea, the best-known species, Cacatuoidea, known as the cockatoo, and Strigopoidea, native to New Zealand. It is known that there are close to 400 species belonging to these three different parrot families. Most of the known species live in tropical or subtropical climates in Asia, Australia, Central America, South America and Africa, but there are also species such as the Kea, which live in mountainous environments and nest in tree roots.
Parrots’ eating is similar to that of humans:
Of course, since it is a bird and has no hands, it uses its feet with two toes for gripping, front and back. The parrot, grasping its food tightly with its feet, eats it by bringing it up to its mouth. If it is not enough to grasp the food and take it to the mouth, its powerful jaw comes into play and it easily reaches inside by breaking hard seeds, nuts and fruits with thick skins. It has been observed that some pet parrots break the metal cages they are in with the power of their beaks.
Parrots are very intelligent and imitative birds:
You’ve probably seen parrots do simple math and play games. This is because the neural structure of the brain is similar to that of primates. An adult parrot has a similar logic to a 4-year-old child. That’s why he can speak. The parrot, without vocal cords, flexes its throat muscles, creating a current of air, which allows it to speak.
Of course, parrots do not speak as we know them, they imitate words they hear a lot. This is because they are social creatures and want to communicate with you, the other member of the pack. So indeed, a parrot can say hello to you every time you enter the room. A gray African parrot named Alex learned and used nearly a hundred words in this way throughout his life.
A parrot can be your lifelong companion:
Let’s say you bought a two-year-old parrot when you were twenty. By the time you are eighty years old, that parrot may still be living with you because the African gray parrot can live more than 60 years. Macaws can live 25 to 50 years, while medium-sized species can live 15 to 20 years. It parallels the lifespan of the parrot. The larger a parrot, the longer its lifespan. Of course, it will be genetically large, do not make the animal fat so that it will live longer.
A true love bird:
Although there are different examples, it is generally known that parrots are monogamous. Once the male and female come together, they spend their lives together. Of course, they mate only during the breeding season, after the male’s wild shows, but they do not mate and disperse. They forage and eat together, clean each other, raise the cubs together, and sleep side by side.
Parrot puppy care is very difficult:
After mating with the male parrot, the female lays 2 to 8 eggs. After an incubation period of 18 to 30 days, the parrot chicks hatch from the eggs. Parrot cubs are born blind and naked. They can only open their eyes two weeks after birth. Their first feathers come out only when they are 3 weeks old. Although it varies according to the species, sometimes a baby parrot needs its parents until the age of one, sometimes up to four years old.
There is such a type of parrot as chicken:
The Kakapo parrot, a species native to New Zealand, is more like a chicken, although it is a species of parrot because it cannot fly. The creature, which has green and yellow feathers, weighs about 4 kilograms. It cannot fly because its wings are not strong and long enough to enable it to fly. Of course, it’s on the verge of extinction because it’s roaming around like a barbecue chicken. There are currently 123 known Kakapo parrots.
If he’s very hungry, he can eat you:
Of course, it is not difficult for him to tear our meat into pieces with his strong beaks, but that’s the joke. Parrots are omnivores, so they also eat meat. Of course, this meat-eating is more like eating small insects in the wild, but even that makes them omnivores. The main food of parrots is colorful fruits and vegetables. Besides nuts and seeds, they will never seek meat if you give them a variety of fruits and vegetables such as mangoes, bananas, zucchini, asparagus.
If you go to India leave your parrot at home:
It is illegal to keep wild animal species as pets as determined by international laws, but there are also local laws. For example, according to Indian law, parrots are considered a wild species in the country and it is illegal to keep them as pets. If you breed parrots in India, you can face fines or even 6 years in prison. There are similar practices for those who keep different wild animal species in our country.
The legend that pirates keep parrots is based on an old novel:
In movies, TV shows and books about pirates, we always see a pesky talking parrot on the shoulder of a pirate, especially the captain. The reason for this is the novel Treasure Island written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881. The pirate Captain Flint character in the novel used to walk around with his pet parrot on his shoulder as we are used to today. Because at that time, since the natural habitats of parrots were islands far from known civilization, it was only sailors who went there and could own a parrot. Now we can all travel with parrots on our shoulders.
We talked about interesting information about one of the most popular pets in the world, the parrot and its varieties, which won the hearts of all of us with its speech and colorful feathers. Please keep in mind that parrots are extremely sensitive creatures and will even commit suicide if they don’t get enough attention.
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