Lincolnshire Zoo in Boston, UK, has African grey parrots who have a notorious habit of swearing at visitors!
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, five parrots from a British Zoo gained worldwide popularity for their swearing habits.
Donated to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park by different owners, these five African grey parrots were quarantined together when they learned cuss words from each other.
Whenever visitors came to the parrot enclosure, the birds would use inappropriate language, which amused the guests and made them laugh.
Upon getting this reaction, the five birds named Billy, Tyson, Jade, Elsie, and Eric would laugh and provoke each other to swear more.
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Although the Zoo officials never received a single complaint from visitors, they still thought it was inappropriate and not family-friendly.
The Chief Executive of the Zoo, Steve Nichols, isolated them from the rest of the flock to improve their vocabulary.
This strategy did work to a great extent as their frequency of swearing has gone down, but they still do it at times and mimic laughing afterward as a natural reaction.
When three new cussing birds, Captain, Sheila, and a new Eric, were added to the group this year, Nichols thought of a different and risky approach. In January 2024, the filthy-mouthed parrots were moved into a cage with 92 other birds.
The zoo authorities hope this step might help them “dilute” their abusive language habits as they learn to integrate and socialize with other birds.
Despite installing large signs warning visitors about the filthy language used by parrots, they have never received any complaints. Guests are amused, start laughing, and even use profanities when they hear a parrot tell them to ‘f-off.’
African greys are highly intelligent and sociable species, who can mimic sounds they hear as well as understand the sound and associate a meaning to it.
Nichols has handled parrots for the last 35 years and believes the birds will start picking up on everyday sounds like the reversing sounds of cars, microwave beeps, etc. This might help in the reduction of the usage of expletives by the parrots.
He doubts the parrots will ever stop swearing completely because once it is a part of their vocabulary, they tend to remember it forever.
Nichols hopes the rest of the flock helps these eight naughty ones to wipe out their foul language, otherwise, they might just end up with 100 African greys talking filthy.
