Can you imagine flocks of colorful birds flying freely in the sky? Such peaceful and pleasant thought used to be the world we live in today! For thousands of years, people believed that these birds were their best companions; as they enjoyed their intelligence, affection, imitation capabilities, and not forget the charismatic presence. Parrots did not only invade people's hearts, but are the stars of every social media video; and of course, cats have something else to say!  

The fascinating thing about Parrots that they are very diverse. This classification consists of more than 350 bird species, from the small parakeets to the huge macaws and the loveable cockatoos. However, Parrots share some common traits, such as the curved beak and the unique foot toes arrangement that make them great climbers.  

Parrots come in different sizes, weights, and colors. They can be as small as 8.7 centimeters to 100 centimeters tall, and weighs from 64 grams to 1.6 kilograms. With the Hyacinth Macaw being the tallest, Huff-faced Pygmy Parrot being the shortest and the Kakapo being the heaviest. Isn’t Kakapo name sounds giggly?  

The familiar shape of Parrots comes from the short neck, chunky body, and long rounded wings. Not all Parrots have long tails, but when they do and want to show off their beauty, they spread it in such a charming way. One of the main differences between Parrots and other birds is their toes arrangement, where two toes pointing forward and two backward, this gives them the ability to have a firm grip. These marvelous birds can live from 10 to 60 years on average, depending on the species.  

Most Parrots live in warm climates in the rainforest, grasslands, and mountains, but some live in colder environments. Parrot's behavior, interest, and even shape depend on the environment they lives in. For example, Parrots that live in areas without trees use cacti, termite mounds to make their homes, while the hanging Parrots sleep upside down to hide from predator behind the leaves. Some Parrots thrived outside their habitats, like the Monk Parakeet, that created a massive population in the United States after escaping their owners. In some places around the world, it became an invasive species threatening the local ecosystem.  

Parrots are noisy, and the noise comes in flocks that fly for miles screeching while looking for food. It is noticed that the larger the parrot, the louder its calls, but some smaller parrots have lovely twittering notes. These tweets and screams are different calls to announce different moods, and exchange different information which to express their highly social life. They communicate food locations with their flock members that might be more than 1000 birds! Parrots are a very good example of word “group work”, don't you think so.  

More than one-quarter of the Parrot species are threatened with extinction, like the Kakapo, as there is less than 150 Kakapo left in the world, and there are only 50 Orange-bellied Parrots and the list goes on. This decline in the number of many Parrot species is due to habitat destruction, deforestation, and pet trade. As people love parrots, illegal traders catch and destroy wild parrots' habitat for fast profit and then traffic these parrots in horrifying ways to their clueless buyers. In the middle of the trafficking process, thousands of Parrots die.  

On the bright side, many conversation efforts help protect and stop the illegal pet trade that might help preserve the remaining populations. When you visit us, don't miss meeting our lovely parrots in our extraordinary Parrot Show, you will see how talented these Parrots can be!