This Popular Parrot 'Talks' Like Us. But We're Silencing It.
Scientists are using forensic techniques to help save African gray parrots, among the most illegally trafficked birds in the world.
Durban, South AfricaIn a lush aviary near Durban, South Africa, an African gray parrot hops toward me, babbling a language I can’t understand.
“He’s speaking Zulu,” explains breeder William Horsfield, whose 700 birds constantly chatter and hop from perch to perch in his immaculate facility’s garden-like setting. Many are African grays, the best mimic of the 350 known parrot species—and thus a highly coveted pet.
Many of his grays have been rescued, like this parrot chatting me up in Zulu. They’re either former pets, some abandoned by their owners, or animals confiscated from the illegal pet trade, like the bird found in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo, with a rope tied around its leg.
Some of the parrots here could join
