African Grey

Who a African Grey suits

For an owner ready for a thirty-year relationship with something that reasons, remembers and holds a grudge. Stable, engaged households produce a remarkable companion. Chaotic or frequently changing ones produce a plucked, anxious bird, and that outcome is far more common than the first.

How to build the bond: Rotate the puzzles — a bored Grey is an unhappy genius. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Bond through rhythm — morning greetings, call-and-response, meals in company. To a bird, being answered is being loved.

The African Grey against the other nineteen

Lined up stillest to liveliest, the African Grey is 2nd of the twenty bird breeds here, one of 7 in the balanced band — enough appetite for activity to stay interesting and enough of an off-switch to be livable, which is the widest fit of the four bands and the least distinctive.

Ordered by how near each one sits to the African Grey on the energy axis, then by the notes they have in common. Every bird breed reads this table from its own position, so no two of the twenty are ordered alike.

The birth years a African Grey sits easiest with

This half of the reading is the species rather than the breed — every bird meets a given birth year the same way. These are the communities that sit easiest with one:

• Whale Spirit Guardian—1948,1960,1972,1984and later
• Monkey Spirit Guardian—1956,1968,1980,1992and later
• Eagle Spirit Guardian—1957,1969,1981,1993and later
• Elephant Spirit Guardian—1959,1971,1983,1995and later

A birth year outside that list is not a warning — it is the half of the reading this page cannot settle on its own. Seat the pair on the board and it reads the rest. What the bird is like as a companion applies to the African Grey as much as to the other nineteen.

A pairing that involves an animal returns a word rather than a percentage. The board's deepest layer reads two inner selves against each other and an animal cannot hold one, so the result is described rather than scored — what is read here is the keeper's birth year against the species, and the breed decides everything about living with it day to day. An animal does get a chart of its own once its birth hour is known, one rung further up.

Frequently asked

What is a African Grey like to live with?

The professor — a Grey reasons, invents phrases in context, and remembers everything, including slights. A mind this size needs a rich life to stay kind. On the energy axis this catalogue uses, the African Grey reads as balanced — 2nd of the twenty bird breeds here when they are lined up stillest to liveliest.

Who is a African Grey a good match for?

For an owner ready for a thirty-year relationship with something that reasons, remembers and holds a grudge. Stable, engaged households produce a remarkable companion. Chaotic or frequently changing ones produce a plucked, anxious bird, and that outcome is far more common than the first.

How do you bond with a African Grey?

Rotate the puzzles — a bored Grey is an unhappy genius. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Bond through rhythm — morning greetings, call-and-response, meals in company. To a bird, being answered is being loved. The thing that most reliably undoes it — Silence is the one cruelty — a bird left out of the conversation plucks the loneliness into its feathers.

Which bird breeds are most like a African Grey?

Eclectus, Cockatiel, Canary — nearest first, measured on energy band and shared traits. At the other end of the same twenty sits the Caique, two bands apart. Every one of the nineteen is ranked against the African Grey further up this page.