How long do parrots live? Long-lived parrots: review, rating, interesting facts

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The parrot is one of those birds that live long enough. Usually zoologists give a figure in the range of twenty to forty years. However, among these birds there are real centenarians. A parrot living at home and receiving enough vitamins and minerals naturally feels much better than its wild relatives.

Popular types of pet parrots

Of course, any owner of a parrot is interested in the question: how long will his pet live? As a rule, the following species are kept at home: cockatoo, macaw, Amazon, jaco, necklace parrot, cockatiel, lovebirds and, perhaps, the most popular of all - wavy. The smaller the bird, the shorter its lifespan. Usually large representatives of domestic birds live long.

Budgerigar

In the wild, this species lives on the strength of eight years, but at home, its life expectancy doubles. In addition, to date, a long-lived budgerigar has a lifespan record of twenty-one years.

This is a rather sociable poultry that is very popular with young children. The compact size of budgerigars allows you to keep them in any city apartment. The future owner can choose any color he likes. After all, the variety of colors of these amazing birds is simply impressive.

Their distinguishing feature is a fairly high intelligence. All parrots are usually very contact, they easily find a common language both with other pets and with 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, a person, cat, dog or any other animal automatically becomes its companion. Easily learning to talk, the budgerigar does not follow logic and cannot carry on a conversation.

Cockatoo parrot

Handsome cockatoos are considered recognized leaders in life expectancy among their relatives. To date, the record of a long-lived parrot who lived one hundred and twenty years is known. It was a large Sulphur-crested cockatoo from Sydney, Australia. According to other unconfirmed reports, a bird of this species also reached its maximum life expectancy, but only from the London Zoo. According to sources, the feathered pet named Koki died at the age of one hundred and forty-two years.

At home, this long-lived parrot lives for at least fifty years. Moreover, this indicator very often depends on the size of the bird. For example, the yellow-eared cockatoo has a body length of sixtycentimeters 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 family member positively, regularly showing their sympathy, and show unreasonable aggression towards others. In the wild, cockatoos live in groups of twenty individuals. Therefore, they need constant communication and cannot stand loneliness. Cockatoo owners often notice their pets being touchy.

Ara parrot

How long do macaws live? At home, this parrot can live up to fifty years. The hyacinth macaw looks especially great. It is considered the largest parrot among all known today. Its length, together 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 a house or apartment. Due to the high price of hyacinth macaws, today they are on the verge of extinction. In the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil (in their natural habitats), these birds are catastrophically few.

Corella parrot

Unlike most species of similar birds, the cockatiel is quite difficult to learn words. However, this is quitea cheerful and loud parrot that will undoubtedly bring a lot of joy to both adults and children. His life expectancy is quite short and is only twenty years. Therefore, cockatiels cannot be called long-lived parrots.

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 females. There are also centenarians among cockatiels. To date, a parrot is known that has lived for twenty-five years.

It is recommended to educate and train birds from an early age. In this case, the parrot will be able to fill in about a hundred words, and also become sufficiently trained.

Love Parrots

They got their name because of a fairly strong attachment to each other. There is an opinion that, having lost its 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 ways by mutual agreement and choose new pairs for themselves. Among all parrots, they have the shortest life span, which is no more than fifteen years. Lovebirds are extremely attractive and easy to care for and breed. There is an orange, grey-headed, rosy-cheeked, black-winged, green-headed, and Nyassian lovebird.

Jaco parrot

These fairly large long-lived parrots usually live for about fifty years. However, to datea case of a maximum life span of ninety-three years for such a bird is known. Like any other parrots, the Jaco does not tolerate the lack of communication very well and may even begin to pluck feathers on itself. Its intelligence is so high that the vocabulary of this bird sometimes reaches one thousand words. According to experts, Jaco not only memorizes words, he is even able to maintain a simple conversation.

The bird's natural habitat is the forests of the African continent. These parrots feed mainly on herbs, fruits and seeds, occasionally getting snails. Their cage should contain a variety of toys, including a mirror and beak rods.

Rating of centenarian parrots

Thus, you can rank the most famous species of domestic parrots according to their lifespan:

• In the first place, of course, will 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.
• Magnificent cockatiel in captivity can be up to twenty years old,
• Budgerigars, together with lovebirds, have been delighting their owners for fifteen years at most.

Parrot he alth

Every owner of these amazing birds dreams of his pet living as long as possible, so the question is not surprising: how long do centenarian 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. because oflack of communication in a parrot can develop depression. If a bird plucks its feathers, then most likely it is in a depressed state.

In addition, a pet needs vitamin and mineral supplements, which also affect 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 very few nutrients. For example, in those countries where parrots come from, as a rule, fruits ripen throughout the year, and therefore there is no lack of vitamins. Pet birds are in dire need of various supplements available at pet stores.

Manufacturers of similar products offer their customers various mineral stones made from a mixture of sand, cuttlefish shell, 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 desirable to add a special mineral mixture "Rio" to the composition.

The fact that the parrot lacks mineral supplements can be recognized by the appearance of the bird. Her development slows down, and her beak becomes fragile. In addition, the thyroid gland also suffers. Vitamin D, iodine, magnesium and chlorine are among the most essential elements.

Content Requirements

Parrots need to keep their cage clean. Remains of food should be removed in a timely manner, and the cage itself should be washed regularly with a rag and brush. The parrot must rest a sufficient amount of time. Zoologists call the numbers from nine to eleven o'clock. During this period, the bird should be at rest, preferably in semi-darkness. A variety of toys and perches of various sizes will decorate his leisure time. It should be borne in mind that these birds prefer to move horizontally, which means that it is desirable to place the perches at different levels.

Interesting facts

There are quite a lot of interesting facts about parrots that people often just don't know about:

• These birds don't have vocal cords. Oddly enough, but they pronounce all their sounds with the help of their beak and tongue.
• Parrots like alcohol. In the natural environment, they extract it from spoiled fruits.
• Thirty percent of the world's parrots are at the stage of complete extinction due to poaching. To date, there are fewer of these birds living in the wild than at home.
• In some countries (like Australia) there are special courses where parrots are taught to talk.
• These are quite musical birds that love to dance to the music. And you can't deny them a sense of rhythm.
• They usually 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. There are real predators among them. For example, the kea parrot eats small animals. Often gets from him and people. Kea are extremely thieving and do not shun literally anything. Often, local residents discover their loss innests of these birds. Unlike their heat-loving relatives, kea prefer to live in cool mountains.
• These birds were highly valued in ancient Rome. Often more money was given for one parrot than for a slave.
• Their bite is not as harmless as it seems at first glance. A large cockatoo may well bite a person's finger.