Grey parrot

Psittacus erithacus · The grey parrot is a medium-to-large, mostly grey African parrot, famous for its intelligence and speech, that lives in the forests of equatorial Africa.

Also called African grey parrot, Congo grey parrot, Congo African grey parrot, African gray parrot, Gray Parrot.

Grey parrot
Photo: Papooga, CC0
Grey parrot
Photo: Florettesokeng, CC BY-SA 4.0
Grey parrot
Photo: Drcbrothephotographer, CC0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderPsittaciformes
FamilyPsittacidae
GenusPsittacus
SpeciesPsittacus erithacus

Where it lives

Equatorial rainforests from Ghana and Nigeria east to Kenya and Tanzania.

Fun facts

  • Some grey parrots can do certain tasks at the thinking level of a four- to six-year-old human child.
  • When grey parrots don't know a word for something, they can invent one, like calling an apple a "banerry" (banana + cherry).
  • Alex the parrot learned more than 100 words and could tell apart objects, colours, materials and shapes.
  • In a nut-sharing test, grey parrots happily gave a partner a nut even when it meant going without, and partners returned the favour.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).