Scientists believe they have busted

Scientists believe they have busted the myths that Londons parakeets were introduced to the UK by Jimi Hendrix, or during the filming of a Humphrey Bogart film.Using geographic profiling scientists mapped half a century of sightings of the bright green birds (Psittacula krameri).They found no evidence to support any of the myths surrounding the birds origins in the UK, according to the study published in the Journal of Zoology.The brightly-coloured bird has been in Britain for decades, although it is unclear how they were first introduced.One theory is they were refugees from the film set of The African Queen, shot in Ealing in 1951, while another is that a pair were released by Hendrix on Carnaby Street, central London, in the 1960s.Another theory suggests the winged-creatures kept at Syon Park escaped in the 1970s when a plane crashed through the aviary roof, while another blames damage to aviaries during the Great Storm of 1987.This is despite sightings dating back to the 1869s, scientists say.A new spatial analysis, backed by an extensive search of archived newspaper articles, found that Britains booming parakeet population has actually grown from numerous small-scale accidental and intentional pet releases.Researchers from from Queen Mary University of London, UCL, and Goldsmiths, University of London conclude that intentional releases may have been encouraged from 1929-1931, and in 1952 by dramatic media coverage of fatal parrot fever outbreaks.Scientists used geographic profiling to analyse spatial patterns of parakeet sightings.The statistical technique was originally developed in criminology to prioritise large lists of suspects in cases of serial crime.Worton Hall Studios, where the Bogart and Katharine Hepburn classic was filmed, Syon Park, and Carnaby Street did not show up prominently in the geoprofile of more than 5,000 unique records dating from 1968 to 2018.