>>> How sad. Isn't 31 young for a parrot to die?
I'm not sure that anyone really knows. Rumor has it that the bigger parrots, Grays, Amazons and macaws, can live up to 100 years, but "average" is just a guess. Parrots aren't registered to an owner, and since they live so long, often outliving their owners, many times people get mixed up or forget exactly how old they are...plus, I'm sure there is an element of "age inflation" sometimes - just as horses often suffer from "height inflation." We've had our macaw for 13 years, and we believe he was at least 14 when we got him - so he's probably in the 25-30-ish year range, maybe even older. I was shocked when the avian vet told us that Crackers is the oldest of his clients, and by a good bit. So, I'm pretty comfortable that Alex wasn't close to being an age record-holder, but I'm not sure that we really know how close to average that made him. I'm pretty sure that some of the zoos have sufficiently reliable records to prove that a few macaws have indeed lived to be around 100. >>>> Bruce has always wanted an African Gray. They are just the best. My Smokey is pushing 14, and I've had her since she was about a year old, when she was just learning to talk. We don't "teach" her to talk - it's just like having a kid around. She can freely mix words to make her own meanings. She was saying, "Frank! Here, boy!" Followed by a whistle within a couple of hours of his arrival. She immediately picked up his name, and inserted it into the other doggy phrases she knows. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
