Incorporating The National Parrot Sanctuary
Registered Charity No #1062413
Registered Charity No #1062413
Common phrases we hear regularly at the Parrot Zoo and have done for years, but sadly those numbers were vastly exaggerated and even more so in today’s world.
We regularly get contacted by the worldwide press regarding longevity of captive parrots, every 3 or so years we are doing interviews on Sir Winston Churchill’s parrot that is allegedly still living in a garden centre in the south of England, some of these parrots are reportedly over 100 years old but there are no true historical records of them being the actual birds. Our oldest bird that we can vouch for in the centre is a Double Yellow Headed Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala oratrix) which has lived within the same family for 71 years.
I feel the average age of a pet parrot has reduced from approximately 40 to 50 years in a normal pet situation, to realistically in the region of around 15 to 20 years in today’s world. So a parrot taken on as a pet 50 years ago, would probably in normal circumstances be alive today but one taken on today would not live for much more than half that time?
So what's changed?
The answer to that one is easy, 'practically everything'.
First of all you have to look at the basics that most parrots need to thrive in a pet situation, and then look at what people gave them historically, and then simply compare it with today’s lifestyle.
It is now a well known fact that parrots do very well if they are able to live a routine lifestyle. In the past (30yrs+) most households were run by the lady of the house as most men worked. Ladies do like to have a routine, and pets no matter what the animal were also expected to follow these routines.
In todays world we have lost most of these routines and in most cases each day is a different one to the next, I could have asked my old Grandmother what she was doing a week on Wednesday at 10.30am and very quickly she would reel off that days agenda, try asking a young mother today, most have no idea and in all honesty most have to work in todays world so aren’t even with the parrot.
Whether it’s true that all parrots are monogamous creatures or not is yet to be proven, but it is true that they need companionship. Today we understand that true companionship is with another bird of same species, but sadly most parrots end up living on their own using a person as their companion, this actually was in their advantage in days gone by as the person most parrots associated with was the lady of the house and more than often she was there all the time.
The majority of today’s ladies have to work which means that most parrots spend quite a lot of the time on their own. We carried out a survey a number of years ago and discovered that if a parrot entered a normal household today where both people worked, once you have taken away work time, sleep time and general living, then most parrots only actually spent around 3 hours per day in the company of others and in that, only 1 hour actually being held, therefore meaning that should the parrot live for 24 years he will spend around 21 of those in his own...
"Does make you think doesn’t it?"
Probably the most contentious issue of all is their daily diet. Over the past 15 years or so the trend has been swaying towards the easy pellet food, which I fully understand is one that has all their needs built in, but as a complete diet it’s not something we would recommend, if you could get your bird to eat a few pieces per day then this would more than likely suffice with a moderated varied diet.
Foods for humans has changed dramatically over the years and this has had a major impact on many of our animals as most creatures were usually fed on a what was available as opposed to a specific diet and a parrots needs aren’t too removed from our own when looking at the 13 essential vitamins, minerals and proteins etc, obviously quantity and specifics will alter but what I am generally saying is that most birds in captive homes 20 years ago or more were fed a basic seed diet, mixed with a variety of fruits and vegetables that we would be cooking for the families uses too. This benefited the bird in a number of ways but the 2 most important benefits were; variety keeping their digestive systems working correctly and therefore maintained a healthy immune system. Enrichment, due to the fact that most foods were fresh it meant that eating was not just a crunch of a pellet, no instead the birds had to work it and this took time, time was something they had plenty of so filled in a few of those hours they would have spent bored and therefore made a far happier bird.
Today as we are pushing towards the complete diet we are not only eliminating a lot of the enrichment offered but over time there could be more problems with digestion as not many creatures are built to take in nothing but good foods all the time, if any creature needed this then surely it would be us humans, all said and done we are the busiest of all so a dozen pellets a day would suit us more, wouldn’t it? Away from the pellets we still use many processed foods which again will be very high in salts and fats etc, not really the best things to be giving predominantly wild birds, you cannot beat fresh fruits and vegetables.
Even bottled water is better than the tap water we get now which all plays a part in the toxins that hangs around the body.
Although you can supplement almost anything today as the market seems to be abound with every type of vitamin available, you still cannot beat natural vitamins which are found in naturally produced foods but again there is another one, ‘vitamin D’ which is best gained from natural sunlight, although the sun ray doesn’t actually provide the vitamin it assists the bird to make it effectively, this cannot happen if it is indoors or just in front of a window as it will be filtered out. Vitamin D3 is a massive part of the bird converting calcium from any foods that hold it and therefore maintains calcium levels in the blood supply and therefore a healthier parrot.
In the past when ladies did their cleaning, it was a common sight to see birds in their cages on the back yard or hung from a hook on the back wall, this had massive health benefits, not only did they receive the important vitamins but also some fresh air and loads of enrichment through watching the day go by.
Parrots can feel very honoured if they get put outside a dozen times a year today so again they suffer needlessly and also unknowingly.
Parrots suffer tremendously from stress induced through lack of sleep, many people have no idea just how much a parrot sleeps and usually sleeps within a colony or a pair which means they sleep far better due to more eyes and ears around for protection.
Due to the shift patterns most men worked sleep patterns so followed similarly meaning that after a couple of months the animals were more or less able to set their body clocks on who was coming and going. Most people were tucked up in bed by 12 midnight, maybe even earlier so the bird could at least guarantee a good few hours of sound sleep.
Today our lifestyles are totally different, televisions run 24 hours, people are on the internet at all times of the day and night and think nothing of having the parrot sat on their shoulder not realising it is missing out on essential sleep. Our normal social activities mean that we are in and out of the house all through the night, every time the door goes then the parrot wakes and this in turn causes more disturbances to its sleep patterns all inducing stress related problems.
Things that weren’t around many years ago but are very natural today and all that could at sometime have an impact you parrots daily life.
Air Freshener Sprays, Static from TVs etc, Wi-Fi from Computers, scented candles; Teflon coated household goods and many more toxins that are used daily in the house without a thought.
As you can see there are numerous reasons why parrots of today don’t really stand much chance of living the same amount of time as their predecessors. I am not saying they are not loved as much, there’s no doubt they are when speaking to the many telephone calls we have saying there young birds have passed away asking if we can shed any light on it.
The fact is, I feel we are moving a little too fast for captive parrots and trying to take too many short cuts that they are just simply not ready for yet. We must remember that these creatures are by far in the majority of being on the first rung of the domestic ladder, nearly all being bred from wild stock especially when you take into account that dogs for example could be on their 30,000th generation after spending 40,000 years with humans, it’s not really surprising.