parrots

Discovering The African Grey Parrot

The African grey parrot is among the more popular parrots for breeders and pet owners alike because of their amicable nature and colourful structure. Learning more about the African grey parrot is an interesting process because there is a lot of information out there about the parrot. This particular species of parrot comes mainly from Central Africa and is known fully as the Congo African Grey or commonly known as the Timneh African Grey. If the Congo African Grey is kept in a nutritionally sound environment, they can be expected to live for about fifty to seventy years on average.

The Congo African Grey parrot is a medium grey bird with a few shades of light grey around the body. The feathers on the head of the bird have a little bit of white edging. There is also a solid black beak and a reddish tinge on the tail to finish off the colouring of this fascinating bird. The bird measures about twelve to fourteen inches from tail to beak and weighs in around four hundred grams or so, depending on the diet and exact genus of the parrot. This measurement is also relative to the individual frame of the bird and weight distribution.

The Power Of Mimicry

One of the most popular reasons people get the African grey parrot for their home is their power of mimicry. Many people believe that these birds mimic voices only, but the facts of the matter suggest that these amazing birds also have the power to mimic all matter of sounds. Most of these birds do not start talking until they are at least a year old, but when they begin to speak you may wonder if they will ever stop mimicking and learning other new sounds. It is said that these birds have a capacity to learn over two thousand full words and several sound mimics.

The basic African grey parrot has the intelligence rate equivalent of an average five year old child. They have the emotions of a two year old child, as well, so coupled with the intelligence factor, the bird is often quite interesting as you might imagine. The African grey parrot can end up being quite demanding from this emotional concoction with intelligence, so be prepared to provide constant attention through the development years and create lots of provisions for the bird including toys and a comfortable cage.