Five parrots removed from wildlife park for constantly swearing at visitors
The flock of birds were adopted by the animal centre in August - and staff quickly realised they'd picked up the ability to screech expletives whenever people entered the room.
A group of profane parrots have had to be removed from public view after they started squawking obscenities at passers-by at park visitors.
The flock of birds were adopted by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in August – and staff quickly realised the animals had picked up the ability to screech expletives whenever people entered the room.
Laughing has only sought to encourage the African Grey Parrots – who apparently respond to chuckles by cursing together in unison.
The Chief Executive of the park has made the decision to hide the birds from customers for the time being to avoid children hearing the foul language.
Parrots are vocal learners and are capable of mimicking noises that they hear in their environment.
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Chief Executive of the park Steve Nichols told Lincolnshire Live: “Literally within 20 minutes of being in the introductory we were told that they had sworn at a customer and for the next group of people, all sorts of obscenities came out.
“And for one of our young girls they really gave her some abuse.
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“We found it highly amusing and the customers were fine – they were no problem at all.
“But we worried because we had a weekend coming up and children coming.”
Mr. Nichols said the naughty parrots have helped to provide a touch of comic relief to what has been a challenging year for wildlife centres and zoos around the UK.
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COVID-19 has put the future of many of these venues in jeopardy.
Chester Zoo asked its customers for help by launching a #SaveOurZoo appeal – which raised more than two million in its first week.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Centre has lost thousands of pounds in the pandemic, but Mr. Nichols is grateful that the year “has ended with a bit of a smile”, courtesy of the five rude birds.
The plan now is to release the parrots into separate areas of the wildlife park so they “can’t encourage one another.”
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Three tiny ‘chaos potatoes’ have been born at Chester Zoo and they’re so cute
Emily Sergeant
Three tiny ‘chaos potatoes’ have been born at Chester Zoo… and they’re really flipping cute.
Born to parents Maris and Albert in late summer, the three rock hyrax pups – only affectionately known as ‘chaos potatoes’ – have just passed their first vet check with a clean bill of health, and now weigh roughly 350g.
Hyraxes are found across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, where they live among rocky landscapes and are most active in daylight.
The litter includes two boys and one girl, and keepers at Chester Zoo have decided to give them potato-themed names – Russ, Spud, and Jackie.
Three tiny ‘chaos potatoes’ have been born at Chester Zoo / Credit: Chester Zoo
Currently, the three pups are a fraction of the size of the adults, which can weigh up to 4kg, but despite their small stature, they have an unlikely relative.
Believe it or not, rock hyraxes are actually a part of the same evolutionary group as elephants, as well as sirenians, which are the family of aquatic mammals that includes dugongs and manatees.
“Hyraxes are one of those species that you have to look for, but once you’ve seen them, they are fascinating to watch,” explained Megan Carpenter, who is a Keeper at Chester Zoo.
“The pups are little chaos potatoes. They are much more energetic than their parents and sometimes get the zoomies, darting about and testing their climbing and parkour skills.
“In contrast, the adults often wedge themselves into corners and grip on to steep rock faces for hours at a time. They’re incredibly well adapted to living among rocks and are much better climbers than you might expect.”
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
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A TV channel playing Christmas films 24/7 is now back on air in the UK
Emily Sergeant
Do you think it’s too early for the ‘C word’? Never mind, you’ve already clicked on this article.
Sure, we may only be into our second full week of September, but given the fact the weather these past couple of days hasn’t exactly screamed summer, it already feels like the festive season is around the corner – but whether or not you think it’s too early to be talking about Christmas, it’ll soon be too tricky to escape from.
Especially not when the famous TV channel showing festive film favourites non-stop is now back on air in the UK.
Yes, you heard that right – Christmas films, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
If you’re ready to wave goodbye to summer, and in welcome autumn and winter with open arms, then there’s arguably no better way of getting into the festive spirit than with the long-awaited and highly-anticipated return of the TV channel that’s charmed audiences for over half a decade now.
GREAT! Christmas the UK’s biggest seasonal channel, and it’s now live on Sky, Freesat, Freeview and Virgin Media.
You can expect almost four months of back-to-back seasonal movies.
The 24-hour feel-good and free-to-air channel will be bursting with non-stop Christmas spirit, and will be showing a heartwarming lineup of festive films – including some absolute fan-favourite classics that make it to screens every year without fail, alongside some cheesy Hallmark classics, new channel premieres, and so much more.
The Manc -
29th September 2020 
