Kid Territory: Critters: A Star is Hatched

Rio Rio has also traveled to many schools around San Diego and around the world through our videoconferencing programs.

Rio Ever curious, Rio is always on the lookout for fun!

Rio with educator A Zoo educator and Rio work together to teach visitors about parrots, their rain forest homes, and much more.

Zoo name: Rio
Species: Mexican yellow-headed Amazon parrot
Location: San Diego Zoo's Children's Zoo

His story

Rio hatched on May 14, 1991, at the San Diego Zoo’s behind-the-scenes Avian Propagation Center. He was picked especially to be an animal ambassador for the Zoo, so he was hand raised and then moved to the Children's Zoo area of the Zoo to start his long career as a favorite animal ambassador. Rio has met many different people during animal encounters in the Children’s Zoo or special VIP presentations during tours. He travels in a special crate, but when he gets to his destination he prefers to sit on top of the crate so he can watch all of the excitement going on. He will sometimes even interrupt the animal presentations when he hears someone talking—Rio loves being the center of attention!

Favorite friends

Surrounded by people from a very young age, Rio is handled by many different keepers and educators. Still, he does have his favorites: he gets very excited around people with dark features, especially men. It is possible he was hand raised by a male keeper with dark hair and built a special bond with him. He also loves children. When Rio sees one of his favorite people, his wings start flapping and he begins making several different vocalizations and whistling noises. It is easy to see when Rio is very happy! He gets excited around people, but you won’t see him like this around other birds. Parrots are normally found in large flocks in the wild but Rio thinks of humans as his flock. When he was placed with other birds, Rio chose to walk away!

A bird with a voice

Rio can be a very talkative parrot when he chooses. He even does a few noises on cue. One of his keepers would hear him making a specific noise or saying a word and gave Rio a reward. Now, he can be asked to say things like "hello." He also has a nice whistle and can make the sound of a telephone ringing. On his own, he may be heard saying "good-bye," "hi," "knock, knock," "Rio," and "yeah." However, Rio will sometimes pick up a new word, say it for a few weeks, and then no one will hear it again.

Rio’s time off

When Rio is not busy meeting Zoo guests, he is staying busy in the Children’s Zoo kitchen. He greets animal keepers all day with whistles and wing flaps. He also watches over the keepers as they prepare food for the other animals, as if to make sure they are doing it correctly! Sometimes, Rio will climb down from his enclosure and make his way onto the food preparation table, where he then helps himself to some food! His favorites are apples, bananas, nuts, and seeds. When the keepers are not around to keep him company, they make sure Rio has plenty of items to play with. One of his favorite toys is newspaper rolled up with a few seeds hidden inside, because he gets to use some of his natural behaviors to get to those seeds. Rio holds the newspaper roll with his feet while he tears through it with his beak. Once he eats all the seeds, he seems to enjoy continuing to tear up the paper!

Where you can see him

Even though Rio lives off exhibit, you may see him in the Children’s Zoo. Also, he joins us for walk-around animal presentations on Zoo grounds, so keep an eye and an ear out for Rio when visiting the Zoo.