Knowing Your AFRICAN GREY PARROT

Species: African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Subspecies: Congo African Grey Parrot, (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

African Grey parrots have been popular pets since the time of King Henry VIII of England. Because of its ability to speak, more and more affluent families adopted the possession of this parrot.

Today, countless of African Grey parrots are being hand-reared by various breeders for because they are amazing and loving companions not to mention one of the in-demand species in different pet trades for possessing high intelligence.

Despite its superb characteristics, African Grey parrots are not suitable for all environments—especially those with children—because they can be strong, they can bite using their pointed beak, and they can scratch with their daunting claws.

If you are planning to buy an African Grey parrot or planning to have one, it is a must that you know almost everything about this specific type of parrot so you would know what to expect.

African Grey Parrot Basics

Considered as the best mimics of all parrots, African Grey parrots are known for causing people to place a lot of expectation on their eventual performance because of their phenomenal gift of speech, for their problem solving and reasoning skills and their ability to understand the human language.

Although they are considered as one of the superior types of parrots there are, African Greys are the most neurotic, temperamental, nippy, and one of the shyest parrot species.

Usually, African Grey Parrots are medium-sized parrots native to Africa. Primarily grey with accents of white area around the eye, African Greys are also famous for their red or maroon tail.

Basically, there are two subspecies of African Greys: the Congo—which are about 12 inches to 30cm long, with light grey feathers, deep red tails and black beaks—and the Timneh race—which is smaller, has a darker charcoal gray color, a darker maroon tail, with a horn colored beak. Today, there is also known a third and fourth sub specie—the Ghana African Grey that is similar to the Congo African grey but darker and smaller and the Cameroon African Grey or the “big silvers.”

Determining the sex of an African Grey parrot will sorely depend on their physical traits: males are generally bigger in size, round eyes, have a flatter and broader head while females have a long and slender neck, small rounded head and elliptical eyes.

These relatively quiet parrots have an average lifespan of 50 to 65 years and are known to feed primarily on nuts and fruits, usually supplemented by vegetables. These birds are known for having a tendency to pluck their feathers if they get bored and tend to bond to only one person if they are not used to interacting with different people on a regular basis.

Like any pet parrot, African Grey parrots require a large commitment and dedication. If you’re planning to buy one, African Grey parrot prices range from $ 750 to $1000 in the market today.

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