The parrot belongs to those birds that live long enough. Usually, zoologists call a figure within twenty to forty years. However, among these birds there are real centenarians. A parrot living at home and receiving a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals naturally feels much better than its wild relatives.
Popular types of domestic parrots
Of course, any parrot owner is interested in the question: how many years will his pet live? As a rule, at home they contain the following species: cockatoo, macaw, amazon, jaco, necklace, parrot, lovebirds and, perhaps, the most popular of all - wavy. The smaller the bird, the shorter its life span. Usually large representatives of domestic birds live for a long time.
Budgerigar
In the wild, this species lives on the strength of eight years, but at home, its life expectancy is doubled. In addition, to date, a record of the life expectancy of a budgerigar is a long-liver in twenty-one years.
This is a pretty sociable poultry that young children really like. The compact size of budgies allows you to keep them in any city apartment. The future owner can choose any color that he likes. Indeed, the diversity of colors of these amazing birds is simply impressive.
Their distinguishing feature is a fairly high intelligence. All parrots are usually very contact, easily find a common language with both other domestic animals and their own owners. As a rule, if there are two birds in a cage, then they are happy to communicate with each other. In the event that the bird is alone, its companion will automatically be a person, cat, dog or any other animal. Easy to learn conversation, the budgerigar does not follow the logic and can not support the conversation.
Cockatoo parrot
Handsome cockatoos are considered recognized leaders in life expectancy among their relatives. To date, the record of the long-lived parrot, who lived one hundred and twenty years, is known. It was a large yellow-crested cockatoo from Australian Sydney. According to other unconfirmed reports, a bird of this species also reached its maximum life expectancy, but only from a London zoo. According to sources, the feathered pet nicknamed Koki died at the age of one hundred forty-two years.
At home, this long-lived parrot has been living for at least fifty years. Moreover, this indicator very often depends on the size of the bird. For example, a yellow-eared cockatoo has a body length of sixty centimeters and is considered quite small. While white-crested, Moluccan and pink reach sizes of seventy centimeters. Accordingly, their life expectancy ranges from seventy to eighty years.
These beautiful birds are extremely independent. Among parrots, centenarians are quite common. They can treat one member of the family positively, regularly showing their sympathy, and in relation to others show unreasonable aggression. In the wild, cockatoos live in groups of twenty. Therefore, they need constant communication and cannot stand loneliness. Cockatoo owners often notice the petulance of their pets.
Ara parrot
How old are macaws? At home, this parrot can live up to fifty years. The hyacinth macaw looks especially great. He is considered the largest parrot among all known to date. Its length along with the tail is at least one meter. And the weight of these magnificent birds usually exceeds one and a half kilograms. Its price ranges from twenty thousand dollars. Therefore, it is unlikely to see this long-lived parrot in the house or apartment. Due to the high price, hyacinth macaws are on the verge of extinction today. In the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil (in places of natural habitat), these birds are catastrophically small.
Corella Parrot
Unlike most species of such birds, Corella is quite difficult to learn words. However, this is a rather funny and loud parrot, which will undoubtedly bring a lot of joy to both adults and children. His life expectancy is quite short and is only twenty years. Therefore, Corell can not be called parrot-centenarians.
The birthplace of these amazing birds is Australia. They are quite hardy and love to fly long distances. The color of the male is much brighter and more beautiful than the female. Among corellae, centenarians also occur. To date, a parrot is known that has lived twenty-five years.
Raising and training birds is recommended from a very young age. In this case, the parrot will be able to fill in about a hundred words, and also become sufficiently trained.
Lovebirds
They got their name because of a sufficiently strong attachment to each other. There is an opinion that, having lost his partner, the second parrot dies. However, this is not quite true. Lovebirds perfectly switch to other birds of their breed. In their natural habitat, they can even part by mutual agreement and choose new pairs. Among all parrots, they have the shortest life expectancy, which is no more than fifteen years. Lovebirds are extremely attractive and easy to care for and to breed. There is an orange, gray-headed, pink-cheeked, black-winged, green-headed, and Nyasa lovebirds.
Jaco parrot
These rather large longevity parrots live, as a rule, for about fifty years. However, today the case of the maximum life expectancy of such a bird is ninety-three years. Like any other parrots, a zhako tolerates a lack of communication very poorly and can even begin to pluck feathers on itself. His intelligence is so high that the vocabulary of this bird sometimes reaches one thousand words. According to experts, Jacquot not only remembers words, he is even able to maintain a simple conversation.
The natural habitat of birds are forests of the African continent. These parrots feed mainly on herbs, fruits and seeds, occasionally catching snails. In their cage should be a variety of toys, including a mirror and twigs for the beak.
Rating of long-lived parrots
Thus, you can make a rating of the most famous types of domestic parrots according to their life expectancy:
- The first place will undoubtedly be a handsome cockatoo with a record of one hundred and twenty years.
- The second and third places are shared by Jaco and Macaw. These birds under favorable conditions live from fifty to sixty years.
- A gorgeous captive in captivity can be up to twenty years old,
- Budgerigars along with lovebirds delight their owners with the strength of fifteen years.
Parrot Health
Each owner of these amazing birds wants his pet to live as long as possible, so the question is not surprising: how many long-living parrots live? If you follow the simple rules for caring for a bird, then for a long time. First of all, you should take care of the mental state of your pet. Due to the lack of communication, the parrot may develop depression. If a bird plucks feathers on itself, then most likely it is in a depressed state.
In addition, the pet needs vitamin and mineral supplements, which also determines the life expectancy of parrots. The fact is that the natural food (fruits, vegetables and grains) that the owner offers him, in the spring contains extremely few nutrients. For example, in those countries where parrots come from, as a rule, fruits ripen throughout the year, and therefore there is no shortage of vitamins. Poultry needs a variety of supplements that can be purchased at pet stores.
Manufacturers of such products offer their customers a variety of mineral stones made from a mixture of sand, shellfish, chalk and so on. You can also cook them yourself. For this, various grains, dry herbs and crushed egg shells are taken. In addition, it is advisable to add a special Rio mineral mixture to the composition.
The fact that the parrot lacks mineral supplements can be found by the appearance of the bird. Her development slows down, and the beak becomes fragile. In addition, the thyroid gland also suffers. Among the most necessary elements are vitamin D, iodine, magnesium and chlorine.
Content Requirements
Parrots need to ensure cleanliness in the cage. It is necessary to remove food debris in a timely manner, as well as regularly wash the cage with a rag and brush. The parrot should rest a sufficient amount of time. Zoologists call numbers from nine to eleven o'clock. During this period, the bird should be at rest, preferably in the gloom. A variety of toys and poles of various sizes will decorate his leisure. It should be borne in mind that these birds prefer to move horizontally, which means that it is advisable to arrange the poles at different levels.
Interesting Facts
There are quite a few interesting facts about parrots that people often simply don’t know about:
- These birds have no vocal cords. Oddly enough, they pronounce all their sounds with their beak and tongue.
- Parrots like alcohol. In the natural environment, they harvest it from spoiled fruits.
- Due to poaching, thirty percent of the parrots in the world are at the stage of complete extinction. To date, fewer of these birds live in the wild than at home.
- In some countries (such as Australia), there are special courses that teach parrots to talk.
- These are quite musical birds who like to dance to music. And you can’t refuse a sense of rhythm.
- Usually they live in groups of up to twenty individuals. However, to date, zoologists have discovered the largest flock of birds, numbering seventy birds.
- Not all parrots are cute and harmless. Among them there are real predators. For example, a kea parrot eats small animals. Often gets from him and people. Kea are extremely thieves and do not disdain literally anything. Often, local residents find their loss in the nests of these birds. Unlike their thermophilic relatives, kea prefer to live in cool mountains.
- These birds were highly regarded in ancient Rome. Often, for one parrot they gave more money than for a slave.
- Their bite is not as harmless as it seems at first glance. A large cockatoo may well bite a finger on a person.