PARROT
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Chordata Aves Psittaciformes Psittacidae

These birds are some of the planet's most beautiful and colorful creatures, and among the most endangered. The 317 remaining species live mainly in warm, tropical forests in Australia, and South America. Their bright plumage, long life span, agility and the ability to "mimic" sounds make them popular pet birds. The family includes parrots: African greys, cockatoos, macaws, and lores. It also consists of mini parrots: parakeets, budgerigars, and lovebirds.

All members of the parrot family have large heads, short necks, strong hooked bills, short stout legs, and "zygodactylous" feet, meaning that two of the four toes point backward, allowing the bird to grip firmly to branches and hold food with one foot, unlike most birds. The hooked bill conceals a fleshy tongue, used for manipulating food, obtaining nectar, and for drinking. The bill is also used as an extra "foot" for climbing trees.

Their plumage is usually bold and bright, though some species are more colorful than others. The yellow-headed Amazon parrot, for example, is green with a yellow head, and some blue and red on the wings. Some breeds are less colorful, such as the African grey parrot, for what they don't possess in color, they make up for in intelligence. One of the biggest talkers with the highest vocabulary of all avians. Cockatoos have crests which they erect during territorial or courtship displays.

Parrots are essentially tropical forest-dwellers, and do not migrate. Both in wild and domestic environments, they are gregarious and loud birds. Particularly in the wild, they are capable of raucous shrieks as they travel around in flocks, imperative to their communication. They tend to build solitary nests, though some form loose colonies. Nests are usually in tree cavities, but some use burrows in the ground or crevices in rock. A few Australian parrots dig holes in termite mounds. Pairs will mate for life, the female producing up to 12 eggs in a clutch, and both parents generally share in the tasks of incubating and feeding.

At the present, parrots are highly threatened by the destruction of tropical forests and the trade of exotic species.