[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

By ANDREW LEVY
15th May 2008
Daily Mail

When John Cleese tried to return a dead Norwegian Blue parrot to pet shop owner Michael Palin, it became an instant comedy classic.

Adding to the absurdity of the scene - in which Cleese complained 'It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace' - was the fact the birds are a tropical breed and couldn't come from Scandinavia.

But it turns out the Monty Python team were right all along.

A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere.

[LeeE]

Tee Hee []

[turnipsock]

Its in the Daily Wail so it must be true, who would have thunk it?

[LeeE]

Sadly, the vast majority of DM readers would have thunk it.  Only a small minority of readers would have thought it.  And there lies the rub.

[RD]

However some lumberjacks are not okay...

Originally described by G. M. Beard in 1878, Jumping Frenchman of Maine Disease is an exaggerated "startle" reflex. It was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine. Initially thought to be a neurological and even an inherited disorder, later researches now suspect the disorder to be psychological and brought on by the stressful conditions in the lumber camps.

The "Jumping Frenchmen" reacted abnormally to sudden stimuli and lost control of their behavior. One effect was that they would obey any commands given them. This is similar to a condition known as Latah, which affects adult women in Southeast Asia.

The interest sparked by the publication of Beard's article about Jumping Frenchmen inspired Georges Gilles de la Tourette to investigate what later became known as Tourette's syndrome - an inherited neurological disorder characterized by the presence of multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic.

http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science//item/occupational_hazards_jumping_frenchmen_maine

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

Is that why they're called frogs?  []

[blakestyger]

Parrots in Norway, that's nothing - 600 000 years ago, the Mandarin duck, a native of Asia and now a gaudy favourite of parks and waterfowl gardens everywhere was indigenous to Britain. Fossil remains of it have been found in the Cromer Forest Beds.  []

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

All that proves is that Chinese take-aways were here earlier than previously thought  []

[blakestyger]

At least it's a real bird. [^]

[opus]

i have heard that many of the birds we call parrots are in fact macaws...

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

MacAws? So they were in Scotland too!?  [:0]

[opus]

yes- in maczoos..

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

That makes sense