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Published by Brad Thies, 2018-12-13 09:51:09

The African Grey

The African Grey

The African Grey

All you need to By Nathaniel Patrick Shaughness

know about
the African

The African GreyGrey!

B An incredible
y parrot!
N

Some rights reserved by quinet

Table Of Contents

Table Of Contents

Pg. 1 - What Is An African Grey?Why Are Birds So Special? / Introduction
Pg. 2 - What Is Their Diet? Where Do They Live?
Pg. 3 - Amazing Mimics
Pg. 4 - How Do Parrots Give Birth?
Pg. 5 - Parrots Nests
Pg. 6 - Endangered
Pg. 7 - Should You Buy An African Grey?
Pg. 8 - The African Grey And The Cayman Parrot
Pg. 9 - Glossary

What Is An African Grey? Why Are Birds Special? /

Introduction

When I first got a African Grey as a pet, it was amazing. I liked

to watch him, and I was interested. I was actually scared to go Fun Fact

near him, at first. I did not know very much about the African Grey, Not all birds can fly. Some

but now I know plenty about it. In this article, I will share my have to walk, such as ostriches and

penguins. Therefore, they cannot

information about African Greys. A very interesting fact about create nests on trees, but they can

parrots concerning humans is that there have been over 800,000 create nests on land.

legal imports of parrots since 1980. Also, a bird is not interesting,

at least not without its feathers. Feathers enable a bird to take Some rights reserved by Papooga

flight, and it is only birds that have feathers. There are different An African
types of feathers. There are contour feathers, which grow in the Grey feeding
wings or tail. They help steer the bird through the air. There are its babies

also fluffy down feathers that act like a jacket. An African Grey

looks very welcoming, with its perfect mixes of grey and a little

white, with a bit of red. However, what all birds have in common is

they are warm-blooded vertebrate (ver - te - breyt) animals.

What Is Their Diet? Where Do They Live?

The answer to where they live African
is in their names. They live in the Greys
central forests of Africa, where it is Live in
warm. But what do they eat? They the
are very health birds. They eat fruits, forests of
nuts and seeds. They are very good central
birds, but humans and other animals Africa
keep ono screwing them up. Some
call them pests, simply because
they destroy the humans crops.

Fun Fact
Scientists say that there are roughly 10,000 types of
birds.

Amazing Mimics Fun Fact
Birds are endothermic,
African Greys are amazing mimics. They can mimic
small sounds that humans make, over time. They can which means their body temperature
mimic keys rattling, other birds and much more. Infact, stays the same no matter what it is
there was a very smart bird named Alex.his life was in like outside.
between 1976 - 2007. He could name over 25 human
words, say colors and shapes. The type of parrot he was
was an African Grey, and he was very social. Scientists
have shown and tested that African Greys can get as smart
as up to a 5 year old human. They can also form simple
sentences, including number sentences. Scientists believe
they mimic to attract females, so the more sounds you can
make, the more important you are to females. This link will
get you to a video of a very smart bird named Einstein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eawfoMHyUHQ

How Do Parrots Give Birth?

Parrots give birth by laying eggs. They Fun Fact
lay the eggs in the nest, and when it The African Grey is the single most heavily traded
hatches, an African Grey baby wild bird, meaning, people will trade a lot for an
emerges. It stays in its nest, and the African Grey.
mother goes out, finds food, and eats it.
Then, they regurgitate the food for the Some rights reserved by evin.ershock
babies to eat. The mother does this
every day for the baby, which can be This is a
hard work. When a baby is big enough, picture of a
it leaves the nest. birds egg

Parrots Nests Some rights reserved by mcmorgan08

The African Grey lives inside the forests of
Central Africa, where it is warm and sunny. But do
they live in a house? A Burrow? No. They create nests
on trees. How they do so is very simple. They go
around the forest floor, and search for twigs. They
then bring the twig back, and create a pile. When they
have all of the resources, they begin to twist the twigs
until they form a circular shape. Once that is done,
then that is their nests. But a danger that all birds hate
is rain and storms. Rain and storms can blow the eggs
and the nest out of a tree, and there is no way to fix
that. So, creating nests are not the perfect solution to
live.

Endangered

African Greys are amazing birds. They were a very common sight, at least in
the 1990’s. They are now very rare, endangered. Today, some people consider
that they are pests, for harming and eating their crops. But that is not the only
human problem. They are traded around the world for pets, and that screws
everything up. Also, African Greys eggs get taken from types of monkeys and
African Greys get hunted by types of hawks, so they are not common. They used
to be in flocks of thousands, but that is no more.

“I’m not surprised that African Greys are disappearing from Ghana,” said
Steve Boyes, an African parrot specialist. "We’re also seeing local extinctions
happening in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and throughout their range. We’re
calling it the ‘African Silence.’”.

Should You Buy An African Grey?

“If someone is thinking of buying an African Some rights reserved by Olivier Blitzblum
gray parrot,” said Boyes, “they should be 100
percent sure of where it came from. Make sure
that the parrot was captive-bred and
hand-raised. Ask for paperwork.”. African
Greys, like all birds, are very friendly and if you
stay with them as they grow up, they will
consider you as one of them. They will think
that you are one of them, just a family member
in the flock. In my opinion, I think these birds
are wonderful. I own one of these, and I know
for sure these birds are amazingly good.

The African Grey And The Cayman Parrot

Glossary

vertebrate

an animal of a large group distinguished by the possession of a backbone or spinal column, including
mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.

endothermic

(of an animal) dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat.

Regurgitate

bring (swallowed food) up again to the mouth.

Endangered

(of a species) seriously at risk of extinction.

Works Cited

Steyn, Paul. “This Talking Bird Is Disappearing From the Wild.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 14 Apr. 2017,
news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160205-african-grey-parrots-wildlife-trafficking-ghana-extinction/.

BrainPOP, BrainPOP, www.brainpop.com/science/diversityoflife/birds/.


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