Donohue - National Geographic Kids Chapters: And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Talents (NGK Chapters): Parrot Genius: And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Talents

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Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4263-1770-5
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-4263-1772-9

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Einstein is especially curious. That makes her easy to train.

Einstein joined the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee when she was five years old.

I magine youre at the zoo. You hear a tiger growl. Thats not surprising. Lots of zoos have tigers. But what if youre nowhere near the tiger exhibit? Next you hear a chimp screech. But there are no chimps around. And then a pirate says, Arrgh! Is it some kind of trick? Not if youre at the Knoxville (sounds like NOX-vil) Zoo in Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.A. It means youve just found Einstein, one of the most amazing parrots in the world!

Einstein joined the Knoxville Zoo more than 20 years ago. The zoo wanted to put together an animal show. It hired an animal talent scout. Thats someone who looks for awesome animals that can learn to perform. When the talent scout heard about a very smart five-year-old parrot named Einstein, he knew he had to meet her.

Einstein is an African gray parrot. In the wild, African grays live in large groups called flocks. Some flocks have 100 birds. Living in such large groups makes them social, or friendly, with each other.

African gray parrots live in the rain forests of Africa. But Einstein was not born in Africa. She was hatched in California. Einsteins owners could tell that she was extra smart. Thats why they named her after the scientist Albert Einstein. He was so smart that people called him a genius!

The talent scout drove over to meet Einstein. Would she be as brainy as her namesake? He hoped so. The breeders introduced him to Einstein. Einstein turned her head this way and that. Then she said a few words to him. Thats rightshe spoke!

All African gray parrots can mimic sounds. But not all African grays choose to do so. The scout could see that Einstein was naturally chatty. She would be easy to train. He took her to the Knoxville Zoo to try her out for the show.

Lets talk parrots:

There are over 350 types of parrots in the world.

Parrots usually live in tropical areas. But one type (above), the kea (sounds like KEE-eh), lives in the snowy mountains of southern New Zealand.

Most parrots are brightly colored. Macaws (sounds like muh-KAWS) are some of the most colorful.

All parrots have curved beaks.