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Parrot , common name applied to any of about 340 species of brightly colored birds that make up the parrot family. Groups of parrots that have their own common names include the cockatoos, lories, lovebirds,  macaws, and parakeets.        In length, parrots range from the buff-faced pygmy parrot of New Guinea at 8.4 cm (3.3 in) to the hyacinth macaw of South America at 100 cm (39.4 in). A large part of the macaw's length is attributable to its long tail, and it is probably outweighed by the very large (60 cm/23.6 in) but short-tailed palm cockatoo of New Guinea. Parrots have curved, hooked bills and short legs. Their toes are  zygodactyl, —that is, the first and fourth are turned backward. They walk awkwardly but are excellent climbers, often using their bills to pull themselves up to a higher branch. In most parrots the tongue is thick and muscular, used deftly for manipulating seeds, which, with fruit, are their principal food. In the lories the...

Brazilian authorities took a parrot into custody after it alerted suspected drug dealers of cops nearby, according to the  Guardian .  The bird was seized on Monday afternoon after police descended on a drug den in Vila Irmã Dulce, a low-income neighborhood in northeast Brazil. The unidentified parrot allegedly warned the couple that ran the shack by shouting, "Mama, the police!" in Portuguese, Brazilian. "He must have been trained for this," a policeman who took part in the operation said. "As soon as the police got close he started shouting." Police were still able to arrest the pair. In the process, they recovered drugs — including crack and marijuana — and large amounts of cash. cash were less successful, however, in getting the parrot to cooperate after it was taken to "jail.