Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in the UK took in five donated African grey parrots in 2020, but their language was so fowl that they had to be isolated from the rest of the flock. It's happened again, and the zoo is in possession of three more parrots with potty mouths. They are described as "really, really offensive." Parrots are great at imitating what they hear, and swear words are often spoken in isolation, with the same inflection every time, so it's very easy for the birds to enunciate them perfectly. But that's not great for a zoo.
The wildlife park was not looking forward to keeping more birds in isolation, so they've decided on another tactic. They are integrating the eight swearing birds with the 92 non-swearing birds in their regular population. What could possibly go wrong? It's possible that when you add eight fowl-mouthed fowls to 92 other parrots, you could end up with 100 swearing parrots. The zoo hopes that the majority will have more influence, and that the swearing birds will learn to imitate the vocalizations of the other birds, which include sounds from vehicles and household appliances.
The original five birds who were recently integrated into the flock have reduced, but not yet eliminated their swearing. A sign was posted about possible outbursts. The three new birds, whose language is much more offensive, may bow to peer pressure among the birds. Or maybe not. -via Fark
(Image credit: Tom Woodward)
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