African Grey Parrot 

Our African Grey Parrot is called Rocky and he has lived at All Things Wild for a very long time, having previously come to live with us after his old owners could no longer look after him. He can usually be heard all over the park, sometimes competing with the Macaws to see who can be the most noisy! Make sure to come and see him, as he loves to make a funny noises to make people laugh!

Native to the Rainforests of Central Africa, the African Grey is the biggest Parrot species on the continent. While they may not be the most visually stunning of Parrots, they are extremely intelligent and are capable of the greatest human speech of all the known parrot species, as well as having around the same intelligence as a 5-year-old. They are very social and very noisy and feed in groups of around 30 individuals. They eat foods like Oil Palm Nuts and Berries, with their diet being considered to be Herbivorous. The African Grey mates for life and pairs will take root in pre-existing tree cavities in which they lay their eggs, with clutches of around 3-5. Despite their slightly smaller feeding groups, they like to spend their time sitting in humongous groups at the tops of trees, with them being one of the few parrot species to exclude different individuals of different species.

These stunning Parrots tend to get a lot quieter at night, only communicating to warn of nearby predators, beg for food, or identify each other. To us, it sounds a lot like random screaming, but to them, it actually makes a lot of sense and would seem like a perfectly normal conversation!

However, all of their amazing qualities have also led to their biggest threat to date. It is believed that 21% of wild African Grey Parrots are removed from their habitats each year, which has led to their IUCN Red List status becoming 'Endangered'. That's why we support the World Parrot Trust, a Charity that works to protect species just like the African Grey from the international pet trade, so if you want to support this incredible species you can learn more about their work here.