The grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), also known as the Congo grey parrot, is an African parrot in the family Psittacidae. The grey parrot was formally described in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae. He placed it with all other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus erithacus.
Linnaeus erroneously specified the type locality as "Guinea": the locality was later designated as Ghana in West Africa. The genus name is Latin for "parrot". The Clements Checklist classifies the Príncipe grey parrot as a subspecies of the grey parrot.
The grey parrot is medium to large sized, predominantly grey and black-billed. Its typical weight is 400 g (14 oz), with an approximate length of 33 cm (13 in), and a wingspan of 46-52 cm (18-20+1⁄2 in). The head and wings are generally darker than the body. Grey parrots may live for 40-60 years in captivity, although their mean lifespan in the wild appears to be shorter - approximately 23 years.
The grey parrot is native to equatorial Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. The species is found inside a range from Kenya to the eastern part of Ivory Coast. Current estimates for the global population are uncertain and range from 630,000 to 13 million birds.
A population study published in 2015 found that the species had been "virtually eliminated" from Ghana with numbers declining 90 to 99% since 1992. They were found in only 10 of 42 forested areas, and three roosts that once held 700-1200 birds each, now had only 18 in total. Local people mainly blamed the pet trade and the felling of timber for the decline.
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Populations are thought to be stable in Cameroon. Little is known about the behaviour and activities of these birds in the wild. In addition to a lack of research funding, it can be particularly difficult to study these birds in wild situations due to their status as prey animals, which leads them to have rather secretive personalities. It has been shown that wild grey parrots may also imitate a wide variety of sounds they hear, much like their captive relatives.
Grey parrots are mainly frugivorous, with most of their diet consisting of fruit, nuts, and seeds, including oil palm fruit. Grey parrots are monogamous breeders who nest in tree cavities. Each mated pair of parrots needs their own tree for their nest. The hen lays three to five eggs, which she incubates for 30 days while being fed by her mate. Grey parrot chicks require feeding and care from their parents in the nest. The parents take care of them until 4-5 weeks after they are fledged. Young leave the nest at the age of 12 weeks.
Natural predators for this species include palm-nut vultures and several raptors. Humans are by far the largest threat to wild grey populations. Between 1994 and 2003, more than 359,000 grey parrots were traded on the international market. Approximately 21% of the wild population was being harvested every year. In 2021, the Kenyan government held a short amnesty, during which grey parrot owners could pay a fee to obtain a permit for their birds and facilitate legal ownership.
Grey parrots are notorious for mimicking noises heard in their environment and using them tirelessly. They are highly intelligent birds, needing extensive behavioural and social enrichment as well as extensive attention in captivity or else they may become distressed. The grey parrot is a highly social species which relies on a flock-type structure, even when raised in captivity. Because they are so dependent on the other birds within their flock, much of their speech and vocal ability is acquired through interaction with the humans with whom they reside.
Both wild and captive parrots have been shown to use contact calls, which allow them to interact with their flock mates and communicate information about their location, detection of predators, availability of food, and safety status. In addition, contact calls are used to form strong social bonds with their flock mates, or in the case of captive greys, with their human housemates.
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Grey parrots in captivity have been observed to be susceptible to fungal infections, bacterial infections, nutritional insufficiency, malignant tumors, psittacine beak and feather disease, tapeworms, and blood-worms. Young grey parrots are more commonly infected by psittacine beak and feather disease than adults. Grey parrots are more likely to have rhinitis, an inflammatory and infectious disease of the nasal cavity. Birds may exhibit signs such as wheezing, sneezing, nasal snuffling, and swelling or occlusion of the nares.
Grey parrots are highly intelligent and are considered to be one of the most intelligent species of psittacines. Many individuals have been shown to perform some tasks at the cognitive level of a four- to six-year-old human child. Several studies have been conducted indicating a suite of higher-level cognitive abilities. American scientist Irene Pepperberg's research with Alex the parrot showed his ability to learn more than 100 words, differentiating between objects, colours, materials and shapes. Pepperberg spent several decades working with Alex, and wrote numerous scientific papers on experiments performed, indicating the bird's advanced cognitive abilities.
In addition to their striking cognitive abilities, grey parrots have displayed altruistic behaviour and concern for others. Researchers found that while blue-headed macaws were unlikely to share a nut with other members of their own species, grey parrots would actively give their conspecific partner a nut even if it meant they would not be able to get one themselves. When the roles were reversed, their partners were overwhelmingly likely to return the favour, forgoing their own nut to their partner's benefits.
A 2012 study demonstrated that captive grey parrots have individual musical preferences. Some research has shown that foot preference can be linked to the number of words a particular parrot may know and use.
In two murder trials, there was consideration to use the deceased victim's pet grey parrot's "testimony" as evidence due to the parrot's witnessing and repeating the victim's last words. In the 1993 murder trial of Gary Joseph Rasp, the defendant was accused of murdering Jane Gill. Public defender Charles Ogulnik wanted to use Jane's pet grey parrot Max to prove Gary's innocence, due to Max repeating Jane's last words, "Richard, no, no, no!". In the 2017 murder trial of Glenna Duram, the defendant was accused of murdering her husband Martin Duram.
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Parrots (order Psittaciformes) are one of the most colorful groups of birds - and of all animals! - on the planet. You can find every color of the rainbow and more in this diverse avian order of over 400 living species. Some parrots are mostly just one body color, while many others display a combination of colors on their plumage. There are even a few species like scarlet macaws and rainbow lorikeets that are basically flying rainbows!
Green is by far the most common color seen in parrots across the world. However, parrots don’t actually make green pigment - in fact, only a handful of bird species can. Rather, parrots can make their feathers green in one of two ways. One is to give their feathers a subtle olive tinge through a combination of yellow and black/brown pigments. The other is to combine yellow pigment and blue structural color to produce shades of bright “parrot green.”
Many parrots have green as at least part of their plumage. Furthermore, a good number of them sport it as their primary body color. In fact, there is only one parrot family where the color is curiously absent - the cockatoos (family Cacatuidae). For many birds, their red, orange, and yellow colors are the result of pigments called carotenoids, which they obtain through their food. Parrots, however, get these colors differently. They have their own unique pigments, called psittacofulvins, which cover the same color spectrum that carotenoids do.
Unlike carotenoids though, these pigments are made by the parrots’ bodies rather than obtained through diet. These colors are therefore commonly found in the plumage of many parrots. Blue is another common color in the parrot world, although it is more often seen as a part of a multicolored plumage rather than the main body color.
There are relatively few primarily blue parrots, including the blue macaws (Anodorhynchus and Cyanopsitta spp.), blue lorikeet (Vini peruviana), and ultramarine lorikeet (Vini ultramarina). These beautiful blues are not biological pigments, but rather structural color that is purely a trick of optics. Similar to how the sky and ocean can also look blue to us, these birds’ feathers refract light in just the right way to appear blue to our eyes. These colors come from biological pigments known as melanins.
Melanins are common pigments throughout the bird world - and indeed, in all vertebrates, including us humans! These are the same pigments that give us our range of hair and skin color. Eumelanin is the darker “black” version of melanin, which can also produce gray when diluted. Meanwhile, phaeomelanin is the lighter “brown” version, although it can also produce ruddy reds and sandy yellows (again, think human hair color). While blacks, grays, and browns are fairly common as small areas of parrot plumage, they are relatively rare as primary body colors.
If a feather is lacking in both pigment and structural color, it will just appear white. While white highlights are not uncommon in the parrot world, large areas of white plumage are seldom seen (except when caused by a genetic mutation such as leucism or albinism). Pink is usually just a diluted red pigment on an otherwise white feather. It is a rather rare color in the parrot world, with only a small number of parrots having a bit of it in their plumage.
There are only two species for whom it forms part of their primary body color, and they’re both cockatoos. Purple is perhaps the rarest color in the parrot world. Just as layering yellow pigment and blue structural color creates green, so too does the combination of red pigment and blue structural color produce purple. There are no primarily purple parrots though, and only a smattering of species that display shades of it in their plumage.
Parrots get their colors from a combination of biological pigmentation and structural coloration. Green is by far the most common color, created by either mixing pigments or layering pigment and structural color. Red, orange, and yellow are also common, thanks to parrots’ unique ability to make these pigments themselves. Structural color gives many parrots a bit of blue, but relatively few are mainly this color. Melanin pigments create black, gray, and brown feathers, while the lack of any color leaves feathers white. Both are relatively common as elements of plumage, but uncommon as primary body colors. Shades of pink created by diluted red pigments are rare, with only two cockatoos making it their main color.
As with most parrots, mutations occur naturally in the wild. Naturally occurring Grey mutations include:
- Albino (Blue Ino)- no pigment and are all white
- Incomplete Ino - with only very partial pigmentation
- Blue - white pigment in the tail
Very few of these naturally occurring Grey mutations have been bred successfully in captivity. In captivity, mutation is the result from altering the genes to adjust the melanin level, and to add other colors. Much work has been done in by breeders in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia to make mutations that are subcategories of the naturally occurring coloration.
The earliest Ino mutations date back to the 1800's. One of the more recent developments was the first all Red African Grey. It was developed by in 1998 by Von van Antwerpen from South America and his New Zealand partner, Jaco Bosman. It is not uncommon for a Congo or Timneh african grey to suddenly grow the odd red feather anywhere on its body and you may see these feathers come through from time to time on your bird and it is nothing to worry about. My 22 year old Timneh has just grown two through on his chest for the first time ever-and hes looking very handsome with them!
Red factor greys come in a lot of varieties, given that it is a colour mutation and not a seperate species. Though most often it is only a small part of the bird that gets coloured, sometimes there is extremely high red factor because of selective breeding or just mutation.
A lot of the time it just affects chest and bellies, but sometime appears more on the back and the wings. Fully red african greys still have texture and pattern to their plumage, which is often where the white boarder effect comes from. African grey feathers, as you’ll note on the birds above, have a small light grey/white ring around the edge of many of their their grey feathers and it becomes much more noticable against the red.
Typically big mutations like this come with side effects as well, like having a few random red feathers may be just a natural thing but selectively breeding for the mutation above all else can be damaging to the species in general and I wouldn’t recommend it at all personally. So it’s all bad form, but like...
