30,000 parakeets want a cracker

By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor

Flashes of dazzling color punctuate the gray drizzle of London’s winter sky. Sparks of neon green—parakeets—are adorned with lipstick-red beaks. The males sport thin “necklaces” of black feathers.

These ring-necked parakeets aren’t native to London—not even close. They’re from central Africa and South Asia. And yet, somehow, there are now 30,000 in Britain’s capital. Legends of how they got there range from tales starring Jimi Hendrix to Katharine Hepburn, Simon Worrall writes. In truth, they’re there because as the hub of a global empire for hundreds of years, London has seen all kinds of exotic creatures pass through. Some of those animals became pets—and then they became escaped pets. (Pictured above, flying over a cemetery; below, in Kensington Park.)

The good news is that the parakeets aren’t doing tons of damage to native wildlife the way some invasive species do. Much like the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill, in San Francisco, or the monk parakeets in New York (and 22 other states!), they’ve adapted just fine to city life. And for the most part, city dwellers like them too.

What is it about London that’s helping them thrive? Read the story of parakeets’ British invasion here.

Do you love animals and wildlife? Want unlimited digital access to Nat Geo’s animal and wildlife stories and images? Subscribe here.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Brown bear, brown bear: Coastal brown bears are among the many obstacles that salmon face on their way to spawn. This salmon was snatched from the river in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, and the bear’s tight grasp caused the salmon to release its eggs.
Quiz: How do bears get ready for winter?
Subscriber exclusive: Learning to let the wild be the wild in national parks

TODAY IN A MINUTE

Frogs have teeth? Sure they do. Most have a small number of them on their upper jaws, but Guenther’s marsupial frog, an interesting-looking amphibian from the Andes, has a full set. Florida herpetologist Daniel Paluh used a micro-CT scanner to peer into the skulls of the frog species, known as Gastrotheca guentheri, preserved for decades in alcohol. The results are the first clear look at the animal’s chompers (pictured above).

To cull or not to cull? That IS the question of this provocative New Yorker story. Whether it’s hunting or vasectomies of the estimated 30 million white-tailed deer in the U.S., it’s controversial. The deer “cause collisions, chomp expensive landscaping, and become vectors for disease, especially Lyme,” Brooke Jarvis writes. Nonetheless, conservationists have been attacked for trying to limit the population.

A victory for the spotted owl: U.S. wildlife officials struck down the previous administration’s attempt to open millions of acres of western forest to logging. The officials told the AP that Trump political appointees had used faulty science to justify stripping habitat protection for the imperiled northern spotted owl. The bird has been in decline with the cutting of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.

Why so cruel? Every day, animal welfare officials see pitiful, starving, thirsty dogs chained up all day to some barren semicircle of yard. They’re troubled with “why.” Common reasons given for animal abuse are inconvenience, tradition, breeding for status, and a lack of resources. A Washington Post reporter investigating the abuse and a Tufts veterinary behaviorist don’t buy the excuses. “People just suck,” concludes the Post’s Gene Weingarten. Tufts’ Nicholas Dodman adds: “People who mistreat animals are the same ones who mistreat people.”

Cruelty-free beauty expands: New Jersey will become the eighth state to ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals, following California, Nevada, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Virginia, and Hawaii, People magazine reports. Globally, more than 40 countries have banned the testing of products on animals, including Mexico last month. The law takes effect in March.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

The ‘romantic’ lizards: Australia is home to nearly 900 native reptile species. Despite the country’s ban on the export of its native animals, each year thousands are smuggled abroad. The shingleback lizard (pictured above) is one of the most popular reptiles in the international illegal pet trade, mostly because of its unusual mating behavior. It reunites with the same partner every year—sometimes for up to 50 years, Nat Geo reports.

This reporting was produced by Wildlife Watch, an investigative reporting project between National Geographic Society and National Geographic Partners focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Read more Wildlife Watch stories here, and learn more about National Geographic Society’s nonprofit mission at natgeo.com/impact.

LEARN MORE 

LAST GLIMPSE

No longer ‘just strays’: Slowly Morocco is changing its view about dogs, and one program has sought to reduce suffering and rabies among the at least 30,000 Beldis that roam the city of Tangier alone. The goal is not always adoption but co-existence, changing Tangier into a place where residents report sick dogs or put out a bowl of water on a hot day, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, Salima Kadaoui, founder of SFT Animal Sanctuary, with a pregnant dog.)

READ MORE