Why do parakeets live in the UK?

Research finds that Britain’s booming parakeet population has grown from numerous accidental and intentional pet releases.

The vibrantly-coloured bird, which is a small to medium-sized species of parrot, has been in Britain for decades, though it was unclear how they were first introduced.

To solve the mystery, scientists used geographic profiling used to track down criminals – and analysed patterns of parakeet sightings over the past 50 years.

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