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Natural Histories

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

Nature that has got under our skin and profoundly impacted human culture and society across our history.

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Natural Histories: Parrots

Parrots

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Parrots

Brett Westwood explores parrots and their effect on art, literature and society.

Brett Westwood explores parrots and their effect on art, literature, society, friends to the wealthy and mischievous mates of pirates. Few birds have been so close to us. From 2015

Colourful birds of the rainforest and companions of pirates, parrots evoke contradictory images. They encompass a huge range of forms from the flightless lumbering kakapo of New Zealand to the diminutive and talkative budgerigar of Australia, the chatty African grey parrot to the garishly colourful macaws of South America.

Their striking appearance and apparent sense of mischief have made parrots popular as pets from ancient Egypt to the present day. During the 19th century their exoticism made them status symbols of wealth and luxury. Noted by a young Edward Lear who, believing the upper classes fascination with the family might be lucrative, set about the task of illustrating as many species of parrot as he could for their admirers to collect. Picture the teenage Lear crouching inside the parrot enclosure at London Zoo drawing the birds – even rivalling the celebrated Audubon for best bird illustrator of the time. 

The uncanny ability of some species of parrot to mimic the human voice only adds to their appeal. The Popes had a keeper of parrots and Henry VIII was supposedly captivated by his.  We cast parrots as the clowns of the natural world; painted in many colours they appear mischievous but innocent, playful but intelligent. But has our anthropomorphism of parrots limited our true understanding of the family? In the words of Mark Cocker "parrots are held in cages, but they are trapped in our imaginations".   

Original producer : Andrew Dawes
Reversion producer : Andrew Dawes

First broadcast in a longer form  22nd September 2015

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