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Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel
Islands in Jersey. They had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how
to behave in this new Landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their king for 50 years. To the
researchers' surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set
free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages,
on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.
Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are
Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated (没收) on arrival north of the border, and raised by their
parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and
psychology (心理) of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out:"Reintroducing species of high
intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than
peers or valuable 'collectables'."
Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to
study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point:
conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both
wild and caged birds.
Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. Forest, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing
parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural
home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots kept as pets, particularly as the Trust's campaign
does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds
raised by humans.
1. What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?
A. Its landscape is new to parrots of their king.
B. It used to be home to parrots of their kind.
C. It is close to where they had been kept.
D. Pine trees were planted to attract birds.
2. The reintroducing experience three years ago shows that man-raised parrots _____.
A. can find their way back home in Jersey
B. are unable to recognize their parents
C. are unable to adapt to the wild
D. can produce a new species
3. Why are researches on parrots important according to the passage?
A. The Trust shows great concern for the programme.
B. We need to knows more about how to preserve parrots.
C. Many people are interested in collecting parrots.
D. Parrots' intelligence may someday benefit people.
4. According to the passage, people are advised _____.
A. to treat wild and caged parrots equally
B to set up comfortable homes for parrots
C. not to keep wild parrots as pets
D. not to let more parrots go to the wild
