It seems only yesterday that I taught a parrot to swear – with repercussions for both me and my schoolfriends and the sulphur-crested cockatoo itself.
The parrot story is one I often tell and now I have another: the tale of the potty-mouthed pollies, as they are being called across the twittersphere.
A bird sanctuary in Britian is wrestling with the dilemma of a donation of five African grey parrots from an owner who can no longer look after them.
Delight at receiving the parrots as a crowd-pulling exhibit at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in eastern England soon turned to consternation when the parrots started “effing and jeffing”, as the zoo put it, in front of mothers and their children.
The parrots were at first banished but by public demand they were soon put back on display with a warning sign alerting patrons to the bad language. Meanwhile, a strategy to teach the parrots good manners was put in place.
As a schoolboy in Britain many years ago, my friends and I taught a “cocky” in a pet shop some choice words. Our prank had a sad outcome initially because the parrot was banished to a back office and ultimately started to show signs of withdrawal and stress because of its lack of contact with customers in the shop. The parrot, apparently, had been hand-reared from birth and craved human company.
And as with the wildlife park parrots, the pet shop owner decided to put the parrot back on display with a warning sign. My friends and I were banished from the shop.
Parrots of all species are known for their remarkable ability to mimic human voices. The African grey is not just the most prolific speaker but considered the smartest bird in the world.
Theories about parrot intelligence were put to the test by an American animal behaviourist and psychologist, Irene Pepperberg, with a parrot called Alex. Purchased from a Chicago pet shop, Alex proved unequivocally that parrots could associate sound and meaning. At the time of his death in 2007, he could count to six, correctly label objects of five shapes and seven colours and differentiate groups of objects by colour, material, and shape.
Sadly, the remarkable abilities of the African greys have led to them being declared endangered in West Africa where they are found. Not only has the pet trade taken its toll with birds being trapped in the wild, their rainforest home is rapidly being cleared for agriculture.
Back at the English wildlife park, the staff there have now decided to place the five African greys – called Billy, Elsie, Eric, Jade and Tyson – in a cage with other well-behaved parrots, hoping they will forget their swearing ways.
The zoo staff recognise there might be a problem – there’s a risk that the non-sweary parrots will be led astray.