A little wonder, every day

Smudge the Parrot Removed Keys from a Keyring

AI-generated cover of a fictional African grey parrot beside a generic S-shaped keyring; not Smudge and not a record attempt. Prompt: “Photorealistic vertical 4:5 editorial cover of an African grey parrot perched calmly beside an S-shaped metal keyring holding several plain keys on a wooden table, bright natural home light, bird and keys both clearly visible. Fictional illustrative scene, not the real parrot Smudge and not a record attempt. No text, logos or labels.” Generated 20 October 2026.

contextual photograph of an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), not Smudge and not a record attempt. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_Grey_Parrot.jpg. Creator T3rminatr. CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). Attribution: T3rminatr, “African Grey Parrot,” CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

contextual photograph of an ordinary ring with keys, not the S-shaped ring used by Smudge. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Key_ring.jpg. Creator Basile Morin. CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Attribution: Basile Morin, “Key ring,” CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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AI-generated cover of a fictional African grey parrot beside a generic S-shaped keyring; not Smudge and not a record attempt. Prompt: “Photorealistic vertical 4:5 editorial cover of an African grey parrot perched calmly beside an S-shaped metal keyring holding several plain keys on a wooden table, bright natural home light, bird and keys both clearly visible. Fictional illustrative scene, not the real parrot Smudge and not a record attempt. No text, logos or labels.” Generated 20 October 2026.

Listen to fact0:00 / —

In November 2001, Smudge the parrot removed ten keys from an S-shaped keyring in under two minutes. In January 2009, he raised the result to 22 keys in two minutes.