All About

Parrots are members of the Psittaciformes, which includes more than 350 bird species, including parakeets, macaws, cockatiels and cockatoos. There are various types of parrots, all parrot species have a few traits in common. For example, the bird has a curved beak, and its feet must be zygodactyl, which means there are four toes on each foot with two toes that point forward and two that point backward. Most species eat seeds and fruits, but some species also eat insects. They are found in South America, Central America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Most species live in forests in pairs or small groups.

Habitat                                                                                                                                               

Most parrots in the wild live in the warm areas of the Southern Hemisphere, they can be found in many other regions of the world, such as northern Mexico, Australia, South America and Central America have the greatest diversity of parrot species. Not all types of parrots like warm weather, some parrots like to live in snowy climates. A few of these cold-weather parrots are called maroon-fronted parrots, thick-billed parrots and keas. Parrots are very popular pets. Some parrot pets have escaped their owners and instead bred in unusual areas. For instance, a bird in the pet trade called a monk parakeet, now   lives in the United States after some of them escaped and reproduced in the wild.

How do they talk?                                                                                                                                         

  Parrots are such fascinating creatures and are extremely smart, but how exactly do parrots know how to talk? Parrots talk in the same way they make their native sounds of chirping, screaming, cooing and other sounds they use. However, they can’t exactly imitate human speech because they do not form sounds the same way that humans do. Parrots talk and form sounds by expelling air across their syrinx, which is a distended portion of the trachea. The reason why these parrots talk is because they are vocal learners, this means they grasp sounds by hearing and then imitating  them. Many people still  wonder why it is that parrots talk, it turns out  it’s because of peer pressure. Parrots naturally try to fit in among other parrots or other people. How sweet!

Fun Facts                                                                                                                                  

Some fun facts about parrots are: Parrots can live for over 100 years, parrots are the only animal in the world that are physically capable of mimicking human speech. Parrots can weigh up to about 7 pounds! The smallest parrots to ever exist are only about 3 inches long, and the biggest parrot is unable to fly. Parrots are the only birds who can eat with their feet. Parrots have been kept as pets for over 3,000 years!