Haematological reference intervals in captive African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

Social Isolation Shortens Telomeres in African Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

Telomeres, the caps of eukaryotic chromosomes, control chromosome stability and cellular senescence, but aging and exposure to chronic stress are suspected to cause attrition of telomere length. We investigated the effect of social isolation on telomere length in the highly social and intelligent African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). Our study population consisted of single-house...

Measurement of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol in captive grey parrots (Psittacus e erithacus).

Putative Adult Neurogenesis in Old World Parrots: The Congo African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) and Timneh Grey Parrot (Psittacus timneh)

In the current study, we examined for the first time, the potential for adult neurogenesis throughout the brain of the Congo African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) and Timneh grey parrot (Psittacus timneh) using immunohistochemistry for the endogenous markers proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), which labels proliferating cells, and doublecortin (DCX), which stains immature and migrati...

Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

How do we measure avian ‘intelligence’ and communicative capacities? Two decades of study on Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) provide more questions than answers. What is intelligence? Can we evaluate nonhumans using human tasks and definitions? Or fairly test nonhuman sensory systems? How do nonmammalian brains process information? Do avian and mammalian cognitive capacities significantly ov...

An association between feather damaging behavior and corticosterone metabolite excretion in captive African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

BACKGROUND African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) are kept as pets and are frequently hand-reared. It has been observed that hand-reared African grey parrots may develop behavioral disorders such as feather damaging behavior (FDB). It is well known that chronic stress is involved in behavioral disorders in captive parrots. The main glucocorticoid in birds is corticosterone; its quantificati...