For those of you who do not follow us on Facebook, this is likely the first news you may have of Athena’s passing. She left us on September 11th while undergoing a procedure at her veterinarian’s practice. She was only 12 years old, and her passing was quite a shock. A necropsy showed that her death was caused by a congenital problem—hypercholesterolemia—which, unfortunately, is not all that rare in African grey parrots.

Hypercholesterolemia is an inability to appropriately process lipids in the diet and is hereditary. Like humans with the condition, her arteries were badly blocked (~90% in some cases), and she could not have lived very much longer. We took some comfort that her death did happen while under a veterinarian’s care—she received “birdie CPR” and other life-saving treatments—so that we knew that everything possible had been done to save her. It would have been even more traumatic had she passed away while in the laboratory.

With respect to the medical issue: Not too long after Athena passed, I attended the annual AAV (Association of Avian Veterinarians) meeting, where they had a long session solely on this problem in pet parrots. It seems to be more prevalent in African grey parrots, but it does occur in many other species. It turns out that, if the disease is suspected, it is not too difficult to diagnose from a CT scan. The problem, however, is that not all that much can be done after a diagnosis. The drugs used in humans have very little effect on parrots, and some veterinarians told me that they are losing Greys at extremely young ages…like 4 years old.

The researchers did find a correlation between the life spans of the affected birds and their diets. So (interestingly!), just like humans, those whose diets had a healthier balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fats seemed to survive the longest. If you are wondering, that means far fewer sunflower seeds and more flaxseeds. I was told that the reason Athena lived so long was because of the excellent care she had received.

Smart, Sassy, and So Very Loved

But knowing all of this does not fill the hole in our hearts that Athena has left. She was a very big presence in all the lives of those with whom she interacted. She always made it clear that she wanted to be the center of attention, much to Griffin’s chagrin. She would make us laugh with her antics; her water bowl picture (below) was classic. She didn’t always want to engage in experiments, and we would joke that her theme song should be “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” But when she did work, she would focus intently. She was incredibly smart and often used her intelligence to undermine us.

I’ll never forget how she hoodwinked us one day when she wanted to chew the buttons on a research assistant’s (RA) shirt. Athena asked to go “Shoulder,” where she started to preen, and then surreptitiously approached the collar button. We scolded her, removed her from the shoulder, and gave her a brief time-out. She then requested “Shoulder” again, and the same scenario played out several times in a row. Finally, after being put on the RA’s shoulder, she asked for “Ring”—a favored plastic chew toy, with which she began interacting. We were so pleased…until we looked up to find that she had carefully placed the ring around the button and had started chewing on the object of her desire.

She was very popular with visitors to the lab and had no fear of strangers, probably because once she climbed onto the hand of someone new, she became the focus of their attention and could probably con them into playing one of her favorite games by saying “Up”, she would ask them to lift her high enough so she could tap her beak to the ceiling. (Why that entranced her so, we never knew…but it was definitely something she clearly enjoyed.)

Life in the lab goes on, and eventually the ragged edges of that Athena-sized hole in our hearts will smooth over; memories of her will bring smiles rather than tears. Griffin definitely does his part, keeping us focused with his constant demands of ‘tickle’ or requests to engage in experiments so he can obtain his daily ratio of rewards….But we will never forget Athena and how much she enriched our lives.