The Characteristics, Care & Behavior of Parrots || by @xkool24 || 01 March 2021 ||

INTRODUCTION
Many of us have forgotten that it is not just the pet dogs and pet cats that are commonly friendly with man. We also have pets from the avian family, especially from the Parrot specie. More than 350 species of parrots live today and it is seen that this feathered companions have more to offer than we might guess. The African Grey Parrot specie are birds of all colors that originated from the warm habitat

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These amazing avian feathered companions is now globally acceptable, living in the homes of people everywhere. This is a kind of special bird, and for a bird to be called Parrot, there are some traits which must be present as seen below;

• it must have a curvy beak. This is why they are mostly called hookbills.
• it must also have a zygodactyl feet. This means it has two feet facing both front and back which gives it the ability to manipulate most things around her.

For parrots, the natural habitat varies by species, however, many hail from tropical or subtropical areas in South America, Central America, Africa, and Australasia.
Some Parrots can be loud or quiet, boisterous or reserved, problem-solvers or laid-back etc.

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THE UNIQUE TRAIT OF A PARROT

• Asides their colorful feathers and wings, parrots are known for their highly characteristic beaks. They are very intentional about the use of this beak as it has a functional need of a hand to them. To them, this beak can be used while climbing, hold things firmly, manipulate things around then and most especially also eat during food. This beak can be trimmed to prevent overgrowth when seen to be off normal shape due to diet intake.

• Parrots tend to have longer lifespan compared to other him pets. Smaller birds (budgies & lovebirds), medium and large birds like cockatiel and Amazon's respectively attend seniors and life spans at 6, 12 & 30yrs respectively too. But in whatever size the Parrot finds itself, it attends many years as seniors.This simply means that adding a parrot to your family is a commitment for many years.

• Parrots are characterised with a zygodactyl feet. This is a type of feet that allows them to have a back and front pair of feet on each leg. With this type of feet, they can perch, grip and climb anything within and around them easily which seem to be important to their foot health. We also need.to take.notemof their nails to avoid scratches and slight wounds on owners during perching on the arm. Nails needs to be trimmed.

• Parrots has a two lobed gland called the preen gland which is located at the upper side of their tail. This gland secretes what they use during grooming. The secretion if exposed to sunlight produces Vitamins D-3 which is a good component for good health. Another notable thing about this is that , when the secretion is rubbed on their feathers with the aid of their head scratching their tail side, It makes their feathers water resistant.

• Parrot have their eyes placed by side of their heads which gives them a larger vision and coverage per time, but this eye position also comes with a blind spot directly in front on their beak. They are also saddled with monocular vision and also decide when to adjust their pupils unlike what is seen in other humans and pets where their pupils dilates at the instance of high level ray lights.

CARE & FEEDING

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A cage typically provides parrots a place that they know is their territory in your home. The size of the cage should vary from specie to specie. All species should have a cage that enables her to spread her wings freely and for those with long tail, same size of cage should be applicable ( preferably, a 48 x 36 x 66 should be ideal and suitable).

Keeping their cage clean is critical to their health. Regular changing if their feeding/water troughs should be imbibe to maintain high State of quality.
For their eating, different food things should be introduced to them for variety. Parrots are mostly known for eating seeds, nuts, fruit, and vegetables, but most are omnivores rather than herbivores.

Moreso, a balanced diet should be administered as Parrots are prone to Vitamins deficiencies and obesity. Parrots enjoy eating some fresh foods daily which include snacks that helps to keep portions balanced for your bird size. Berries, bananas, leafy greens, and squash are some of the healthy foods safe to feed parrots. We should always know that eating for birds can always get messy. They enjoy interacting with their food hence food gets dropped, flung, squirted, and ricocheted

SPEECH & SOUND

One of the most endearing traits of parrots to their owners, is their ability to talk or mimic noises. Some are more quiet, speak bird language while some can learn to speak a human language.
Most species are seen to be noisiest at dawn and dusk all trying to mimic or speak human language at every possible time they come in contact with their owners. When also wanting to make contact calls with their owners, they are also seen in this noisy mood.

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HEALTH & COMMON CONDITIONS

If Parrots are given healthy food in the right proportions, with other sanitary conditions met in terms of their drinking/feeding troughs, safe environment and enough space to exercise,,,etc, they have to opportunity to get the best and happy life. Though genetic factors do play a key role in their wellbeing, it affects the potentially of some ailments seen in Parrots.

Some specie are seen with chronic egg laying problem, hemochromatosis, eclectics, toe tapping etc than others due genetic formations. Some health concerns that we find some of this pet_parrots undergo are nutritional issues, some by viruses & bacteria, others by parasites, some are injuries, etc. It is important we follow up and pay close attention to this human loving pet so as to achieve it's long span expectancy.

Thank you all for reading through my post.

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