Monday, February 19, 2018

The History of U.S. Presidents and Parrots

Greetings and welcome to this week’s blog! It’s Presidents Day today. To celebrate the day we once again take a look at the animals that our Commanders in Chief have had. Last year we took a look at the more bizarre animals that our presidents have had.

It’s well documented that Theodore Roosevelt probably had the most eclectic collection of critters. From lizards to a small black bear, old Teddy had it all. He also had a cat named Slippers and a macaw named Eli Yale.


That got me to thinking, who else had Parrots? You know, there are a couple more Presidents that had them also. President number 1 AKA George Washington had a parrot to go along with his hounds and horses. His parrot’s name was Snipe.

James Madison had a parrot named Polly. Polly actually outlived both President Madison and his wife Dolly. Andrew Jackson actually had an African grey parrot also named Polly. They sometimes called his bird Poll for short.

William McKinley actually had a yellow-headed Mexican parrot named Washington Post. Washington could whistle Yankee Doodle. There are a lot of birds in the presidential pet history but those are all of the parrots.

The thing I would really love to know is what their birds would say. If you haven’t spent much time around parrots, they pick up things that they want to say randomly. I’m sure that all of the presidential pets have listened to sensitive discussions. Can you imagine a bird that repeats classified information?

If you haven’t experienced just how attentive parrots can be, come visit Timbavati Wildlife Park. We’re now open all year round and you never know what our parrots will say. Thanks for reading and we will talk again next week!


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