We'll Always Have Parrots! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Teaching a parrot to talk

Parrots are connected with human sexuality in other ways. Kama, the Hindu god of love, and his wife Rati, the goddess of lust and pleasure, rode on parrots or used parrots to draw their chariot. Some prostitutes would show their profession by carrying a parrot on their wrist.
In another Sanskrit story, the Shuasaptaki, a parrot keeps a merchant's wife from having an affair by telling her stories night after night until her husband returns. This was the parrot Sheherazade!
The hymn in the Rig Veda entrusts parrots with caring for the pale color of the moon as the morning sun rises. This is very picturesque, especially if one imagines the happy cacophony of squawking with which parrots usually greet the morning!

Answer: Impersonate the sun

In the Maya creation myth, a macaw sat in the top of the World Tree and tried to impersonate the sun. It fooled everyone with its bright and sparkly jewelry. The Hero Twins shot the bird, which fell to the ground. The bird was in so much pain that it asked the Hero Twins to remove its jewelry.

After that, the real sun could take its rightful place in the sky. This myth is illustrated in the night sky-- the world tree is the Milky Way, and the macaw is the Big Dipper. There are carvings of macaws on the Ball Court in Copan.

The path of the ball represents the rising and falling of the sun. The macaws symbolize the night sun, or the sun in the underworld. The Maya also used macaw feathers to decorate ceremonial garments.

Answer: Alexander the Great, Alexandrine Parrot

Parrots were very popular and valued highly. They could be kept in gold and silver cages (which the parrots made short work of, I'm sure!), depicted in mosaics, and carried on the wrists of the elite, who could even hire parrot trainers! One Greek is said to have kept a singing, dancing parrot for over forty years! Alexandrine parrots, Psittacula eupatria, Indian ringnecked parrots, P. krameri, and plum-headed parakeets, P. cyanocephala, were the main types of parrots brought back to Greece and Rome.

They are native to the Indian subcontinent, and have crisp green plumage with extremely long, tapering tails.

Answer: Yes

South America is home to many kinds of parrots, so it is appropriate that it was informally known as "Terra de Papagaios" (Land of Parrots) or "Bresilia sive Terra Papagalli" (Brazil or Land of the Parrot.) Mercator identified an area in the southern Indian Ocean as "Psittacorum Regio," (Land of Parrots), which later came to be associated with Australia. Even the famous explorer Christopher Columbus brought back parrots from his famous trip to the New World, and James Cook's expeditions to Australia produced drawings of different types of parrots!

Answer: Edward Lear

At the age of 16, Edward Lear decided to undertake an ambitious project-- to illustrate all known parrot species. He made his drawings true to life, using live parrots borrowed from zoos or private collections as models. The lithographs are gorgeous, and I think that Lear did a better job of capturing the playfulness of the parrots than Gould or Audubon.

In 1832, Lear gave up the project because he did not have the money to support it. He worked for John Gould until his eyesight and health gave out at age 36. For the rest of his life he travelled in Europe and Asia, painting landscapes and writing nonsense verse.

Answer: Dodo

The Dodo was not the only large flightless bird to meet its demise in the Mascarenes. The flightless parrots were actually the first species on the Mascarene Islands to go extinct. Overhunting, as well as introduced predators like rats, took their toll.

This story has almost repeated itself in New Zealand, home to the flightless kakapo parrot. Kakapo were once common over all of New Zealand. Now less than a hundred are confined to a few small, predator-free islands.

Answer: They die in transit.

It is estimated that more than two thirds of captured parrots die in transit. In theory, most parrot species are protected. In practice, smuggling and even mass exportation are common. Capture and exportation are devastating to wild populations of parrots. Parrots are long lived and slow to reproduce.

It can be difficult or impossible for population size to recover. Parrots are severely abused during shipping, especially if they are smuggled. The message is clear: ONLY BUY A DOMESTICALLY BRED PARROT.

They make better pets, they carry fewer diseases, and they don't harm wild populations of parrots.

Answer: Irene Pepperberg

After 26 months of training, Alex learned to correctly use words for colors, numbers up to six, and certain objects and food items. "Bird brains" can be smarter than you'd think!

Answer: It was quite dead.

Or, in the words of Mr. Praline, "'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!" I love this species of parrot's supposed name, the "Norwegian Blue." Monty Python also did a sketch featuring news written by parrots, for parrots, but performed by the Python crew. My parrot thought it was hilarious!

Answer: No

There was a parrot, but it wasn't blue! In one shot we see a stuffed yellow-naped amazon parrot, Amazona ochrocephala auropalliata. Yellow-naped amazons are mostly green, with a splash of yellow on the neck. In all fairness, the movie was black and white, so they might have gotten away with this...