Some species
of the parrot have become endangered. Thousands are brought
to Europe and North America as pets. Many of these die
making this journey.
Parrots have a wide range of
articulations. Wild parrots do not imitate. Only pets
will mimic people and noises they hear. The African gray
parrots are the best mimics.
Parrots are hole nesters. They
build their nests in holes in trees, termite mounts, rock
cavities, or ground tunnels. A few exceptions will build
stick nests.
More than 90 percent of the
parrots imported into the United States are probably wild
caught.
It is thought that two million
parrots alone are legally or illegally traded each year.
More than 1.8 million parrots legally entered the international
trade from 1982-1988 of which 80 percent were imported
into the United States.
Recent figures suggest that
40 percent of these species are threatened primarily by
habitat destruction, 17 percent primarily by trade, 36
percent by a combination of the two causes and 7 percent
by other factors.
At least 30 percent of the
140 parrot species found in the Western Hemisphere are
now threatened with extinction.
An additional 25,000 parrots
die of suffocation, starvation, inhumane treatment while
being transported to the Texas border.
An estimated 25,000 wild parrots,
caught or plucked from their nests in Mexico, are smuggled
across the Texas border each year.
Every year, approximately 250,000
parrots are imported to the United States to satisfy a
demand for exotic birds as pets.
It is estimated in the year
2000 there were 60 million birds in 6.13 million homes.
In 1990 there were 11 million
pet birds living in 5.1 million households in the US
By 1996 the number of pet birds had grown to 40 million
while the number of homes remained fairly consistent at
5.9 million.
In the wild, Macaws and Cockatoos
can fly 500 miles per day in search of food!
Some parrot vocalizations can be heard for up to 1 mile!
Wild parrots live in the forest
of tropical zones including South America, Australia,
and New Guinea. A few live in Africa and mainland Asia.
Larger parrots such as the
macaws and cockatoos live more than 75 years.
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