The grey parrot was formally described in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae.

The specific epithet erithacus is Latin and is derived from the Ancient Greek εριθακος (erithakos) for an unknown bird that was said to mimic human sounds, perhaps the black redstart.

[9] The grey parrot is native to equatorial Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda.

In the Congo, an estimated 15,000 are taken every year for the pet trade, from the eastern part of the country, although the annual quota is stated to be 5,000.

In addition to a lack of research funding, it can be particularly difficult to study these birds in wild situations due to their status as prey animals, which leads them to have rather secretive personalities.

It has been shown that wild grey parrots may also imitate a wide variety of sounds they hear, much like their captive relatives.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two greys sound-recorded while roosting reportedly had a repertoire of over 200 different calls, including nine imitations of other wild bird songs and one of a bat.

[23] In 2021, the Kenyan government held a short amnesty, during which grey parrot owners could pay a fee to obtain a permit for their birds and facilitate legal ownership.

Feather plucking is a common symptom seen among such distressed grey parrots,[19] affecting up to 40% of captive individuals.

[27] The grey parrot is a highly social species which relies on a flock-type structure, even when raised in captivity.

[28] Both wild and captive parrots have been shown to use contact calls, which allow them to interact with their flock mates and communicate information about their location, detection of predators, availability of food, and safety status.

In addition, contact calls are used to form strong social bonds with their flock mates, or in the case of captive greys, with their human housemates.

In captivity, they have been shown to display communicative competence, meaning they not only use human language correctly, but also in such a way that is appropriate for the social situation which they are in.

[30] In captivity, grey parrots may be fed bird pellets, a variety of fruits such as pear, orange, pomegranate, apple, and banana, and vegetables such as carrot, cooked sweet potato, celery, fresh kale, green beans and peas.

Infected birds show symptoms such as loss of appetite, fluffy feathers, sluggishness, and reduced walking abilities due to brittle bones.

[34] American scientist Irene Pepperberg's research with Alex the parrot showed his ability to learn more than 100 words, differentiating between objects, colours, materials and shapes.

[35] Pepperberg spent several decades working with Alex, and wrote numerous scientific papers on experiments performed, indicating the bird's advanced cognitive abilities.

One such study found that Alex had the ability to add numbers as well as having a zero-like concept, similar to that of young children and apes.

When presented with the opportunity to choose between two different pieces of music via a touch screen monitor located in their cage, the two birds in the test consistently chose different songs, to which they then danced and sang along.

[38] Some pet grey parrots have also been observed using the music feature of smart speakers (such as Google Nest or Amazon Echo) to verbally request playback of specific favoured songs.

[18] Breeders from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia have bred grey parrots intensively since the 1800s.

South African bird breeder Von van Antwerpen and New Zealand partner Jaco Bosman selected F2 Pieds and created the first Red Factor Greys.

[44] The domestication of grey parrots dates back to 2000 B.C., depicting native birds as pets in Egyptian hieroglyphics.