Pretty Polly

“Parrots can really enjoy themselves out of the tropics where most of the 370 different species live!”
“Today less and less people keep parrots as pets and it is down to the zoos and charities to preserve many species in safety away from the wild!”

 
Exmoor zoo has just finished building a parrot complex for rare and endangered species of parrots. The endangered parrots on display range from one of the heaviest, largest and biggest macaws from South America to tiny little parakeets such as the grey breasted conure.
The zoo has a good record with breeding different parrot species such as the yellow-shouldered Amazons which are exhibited in a family flock bred over the last 8 years! The pair of ochre-marked parakeets at the zoo since 2002 have bred over 50 progeny which have all gone into the genetic breeding program and are kept in zoos over Europe. More recently the zoo has bred Cuban Amazons for the first time!

Many parrots such as the thick billed parrot are no longer maintained in zoos and they need the facility and chance to breed to maintain the captive population. Thick-billed parrots in the wild are another endangered species and in northern Mexico they are being bred at a special release centre so they can be released. Again, this is a species that Exmoor Zoo has successfully bred and we hope to help the breeding program with.

If you love your parrots why not “wing your way over” and see the new exhibit and see if the parrots are exploring their new homes!