Foul-mouthed parrots at the zoo taught other birds obscene language

Birds’ mouths will have to be washed with soap

A UK wildlife park has developed a new plan to stop parrots swearing. Bully birds not only set a bad example and teach their fellow birds to swear, but they also order visitors to stop looking at them and to leave.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Park said its staff had taken eight African gray parrots, who like to talk in profanity, and placed them with 92 “non-swearing” birds in a bid to improve the behavior of bullies.

“I hope that the swearing will be drowned out by the general noise of the pack. When we came to stop this kind of talk that was coming out of their portable boxes, it was phenomenal and really bad,” Steve Nichols, the park’s executive director, admitted to CNN.

He added that “if things go wrong, there could be 100 swearing parrots in Lincolnshire Wildlife Park.”

This retraining method will aim to enable African gray parrots to learn “all the pleasant sounds, such as microwaves and vehicles reversing”, which are typically imitated by birds that do not swear.

African gray parrots are among the most highly intelligent birds on the planet, known for their distinctive cognitive abilities and impressive ability to imitate the speech of others.

According to a 2019 Harvard study, this species of bird can perform brain-developing tasks at a level comparable to the intelligence of a 5-year-old child.

“Six of them have male voices, two of them have female voices, and when they all fight, it sounds terrible,” Nichols explained.

The five parrots – named Billy, Elsie, Eric, Jade and Tyson – gained popularity in 2020 when they were separated for swearing at zoo visitors. This all happened after the birds were quarantined together due to the nationwide coronavirus outbreak, when they somehow taught each other a wide range of swear words and obscenities.

“People came to us, but they thought it was very funny, we didn’t have a single complaint,” Nichols told The Guardian in 2020. “When the parrot tells you to fuck off, it made people laugh a lot. It brought a big smile to a really difficult year.”

But in 2024, the birds are set to give up swearing – and now join their three new foul-mouthed African gray friends in the latest experiment to stop swearing altogether. The remaining birds are named Eric, Captain and Sheila.

Nichols thinks the risky plan is good for now, but the executive admits they still fight and even laugh after it.

Lincolnshire has placed signs around the area warning visitors about the parrots’ devious behavior and urging them not to encourage their foul language. A warning sign for guests reads: “FYI, every common swear word can be heard in this enclosure, so please be aware if you have people of a sensitive nature with you.”