(WWTI) – Who wouldn’t want a dinosaur as a pet – well a dinosaur’s descendent anyway – it’s National Pet Bird Day.

Keeping birds as pets goes back nearly 4,000 years, the ancient Sumerians around 3,000 B.C. supposedly kept pet birds as they had a word for ‘birdcage’ and ancient mariners used pet birds to help them discover land. Pliny the Elder wrote of the ancient Romans keeping birds as pets and some of Alexander the Great’s generals brought pet birds back from India during the fourth century B.C.

A famous canary was brought to the royal court in Portugal in the 1340’s. They continued to rise in popularity in the late 15th century, as new trade routes were discovered, birds were brought in from all over the world and graced the homes of some of Europe’s most famous monarchs.

In the 1800’s and 1900’s Presidents Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge were all loving parrot owners. Today, there are nearly 6 million homes in America with pet birds. Bird ownership has been cited as an excellent form of companionship, a stress reliever and good for improving one’s health.

For a guide to bird care for anyone interested in getting a pet bird, Wag! has all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Happy National Pet Bird Day!