parrot – News Stories About parrot - Page 2

Jan 21, 2009 2:25 PM CST

Rawwk! Polly Want a Red Card?

Parrot booted from UK soccer game for imitating ref's whistle

(Newser) - A rare parrot had to be thrown out of a British football match when he began imitating the referee’s whistle, the Daily Mail reports. The parrot’s call was so realistic it actually stopped play dead 10 minutes into the second half, and continued disrupting the game thereafter. The...

Disabled Bite Back
Over Animal Guides

Jan 4, 2009 2:09 PM CST

Disabled Bite Back Over Animal Guides

Some suspect animal owners of abusing of special privileges

(Newser) - Miniature horses trek through supermarkets and monkeys queue up at restaurant buffets these days—all to guide the blind, the disabled, and the anxiety-ridden, Rebecca Skloot writes in the New York Times Magazine. But the increasing prevalence of wild and farm service animals among the civilized is reigniting the debate...

Birds Think Like Us

Nov 22, 2008 4:01 AM CST

Birds Think Like Us

New book chronicles the life and mind of Alex, the world's smartest parrot

(Newser) - In her new book Alex and Me researcher Irene Pepperberg explains how her work with the African gray parrot shed light on human intelligence, Scientific American reports. The author says Alex’s smarts demonstrate why scientists should examine how an animal’s brain works, not just how it looks, because...

Polly Wanna Get Home:
Here's My Address

May 23, 2008 4:11 AM CDT

Polly Wanna Get Home: Here's My Address

Lost Japanese parrot tells vet how to find his home

(Newser) - A vet in Japan was stumped on how to reunite a lost parrot with its owners—until the brainy bird told him his address and his owner's name. The well-trained African gray has been safely reunited with his human family, the BBC reports. The bird kept mum in police custody...

Polly Want a Prozac?

Feb 26, 2008 9:33 AM CST

Polly Want a Prozac?

Parrots are the latest pets to see spike in depression

(Newser) - With more pet owners working long days and leaving their furry and feathered friends alone at home, cases of animal depression are on the rise, writes the Daily Telegraph. A TV vet says the trend is hitting parrots especially hard, causing the talkative birds to pull out their feathers or...

World's Smartest Parrot Is No More

Sep 11, 2007 3:27 PM CDT

World's Smartest Parrot Is No More

Alex was no bird brain: He amused millions, aided science

(Newser) - Brandeis researchers feel as though they’ve lost a colleague: Alex, the African gray parrot they studied for 30 years, died Friday. He helped them reach surprising new conclusions about the avian brain and “was extraordinary in breaking the perceptions of birds as not being intelligent,” according to...