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 Wildville!
The Parrot
 Parrot
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae or
Cacatuidae
The term parrot includes 353 species of bird which are grouped into two families. One family is Cactuidae, or cockatoos, and the other is Psittacidae, or true parrots. All of these birds have a curved beak shape. All parrots are also zygodactyl, which means they have four toes on each foot, two at the front and two at the back of the foot.
Parrots live in most of the warm parts of the world. Many of the parrot species come from Australia, South America, and Central America, but they also live in India, southeast Asia, and west Africa. The Carolina Parakeet is one species, now extinct, from the United States.
Parrots are loved as pets because of their beautiful colors and their ability to speak. Do they really talk? Many species can imitate human speech or other sounds. Some scientists believe that the birds are only repeating the sounds and do not understand their meaning. However, one researcher, Irene Pepperberg, claims that the birds are also capable of learning. An African grey garrot named Alex has been trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions, such as How many red squares? with over 80% accuracy. He can label seven colors, is learning the alphabet, and can count up to six objects. Some species of parrot can live up to 80 years.
Sources: Wikipedia, Parrot. The Alex Foundation, www.alexfoundation.com.
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