# Do reptiles keep growing throughout their entire lives? What about birds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709 "2006-12-18T23:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/21 "2006-12-20T11:36:55Z")
Sexing budgies is fairly straightforward once they’re a couple of months old - the cere (the hard patch of tissue surrounding the nostrils is smooth, waxy bright blue in males, pinkish red and often roughish and flaky in females (assuming otherwise healthy, normal birds). ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/22 "2006-12-20T17:21:45Z")
is it just coincidence that they have blue for males and pink for females or is there any biological basis for our colouring standards on baby shoes? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/23 "2006-12-21T02:23:18Z")
Well, certainly budgies were using the blue/boy pink/girl colour scheme before humans and since they’re natives of Australia, I think it will be the case that the same colour scheme was already established in Northern hemisphere cultures long before they came into contact with us, so yes - coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/24 "2006-12-21T11:54:28Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Well, certainly budgies were using the blue/boy pink/girl colour scheme before humans and since they’re natives of Australia, I think it will be the case that the same colour scheme was already established in Northern hemisphere cultures long before they came into contact with us, so yes - coincidence. [/QUOTE] Fascinating. I wonder whether it is coincidence. There might be some mechanism there. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/25 "2006-12-21T12:11:59Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s possible that it is just a combination of weight gain and a few more feathers, or thicker ones. I thought I had detected an increase in height too though, but this isn’t as easy to accurately measure as is weight and general size. He’s only just over a year old - I’m not even sure whether that means he’s outside the age range for normal juvenile growth. Of course, it’s also possible that there is some kind of disorder such as an overactive gland… [/QUOTE] Well, throughout my life I’ve had a few budgies (parakeets, right? I prefer the blue ones), but I never once scientifically charted their weight vs length vs feather thickness. You, sir, are a true scholar! [QUOTE=Sapo] if you get a pet turtle, be mean to them. That way they won’t miss you so much when you die before they do. [/QUOTE] You don’t have to be “mean” to them per se… Eventually they will just crawl under the water heater and die. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/26 "2006-12-21T13:47:17Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] Fascinating. I wonder whether it is coincidence. There might be some mechanism there. [/QUOTE] Are you talking about some kind of supernatural mechanism? What else could it possibly be, except that or coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/27 "2006-12-21T13:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] Well, throughout my life I’ve had a few budgies (parakeets, right? I prefer the blue ones), but I never once scientifically charted their weight vs length vs feather thickness. [/QUOTE] Budgies are all parakeets, but not all parakeets are budgies (although I understand they are just called parakeets in the USA). Mine is [purple](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/caesar.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/28 "2006-12-21T13:53:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Mine is [purple](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/caesar.jpg). [/QUOTE] Nice. Just because I’m lazy, what’s the lifespan? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/29 "2006-12-21T13:57:13Z")
Quite variable - we’ve never managed to keep one beyond about five years, but they can easily live to be as old as twelve or fifteen and occasionally twenty or more. The oldest confirmed age of a budgie was 29 I think. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/30 "2006-12-21T14:08:14Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] Fascinating. I wonder whether it is coincidence. There might be some mechanism there. [/QUOTE] let’s not go crazy here. I was just kidding when I proposed this. Think of how many species do NOT have blue for males and pink for females. If anything, it would be brown for females and red (or some other bright colours) for males. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/31 "2006-12-21T14:11:47Z")
So yes, there’s a mechanism - it’s called Confirmation Bias. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/32 "2006-12-21T16:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Budgies are all parakeets, but not all parakeets are budgies… [/QUOTE] This feels like a riddle, but when is a parakeet not a budgie? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709/33 "2006-12-21T16:21:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] This feels like a riddle, but when is a parakeet not a budgie? [/QUOTE] When it’s some other species of parakeet, such as the [Ring Necked Parakeet](http://www.introduced-species.co.uk/Species/birds/Ring%20Necked%20parakeet.htm) or the [Red Crowned Parakeet](http://www.stanford.edu/~petelat1/parakeet.html), or the [Santa Marta Parakeet](http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1527720.htm) (which is just a little _darling_) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-reptiles-keep-growing-throughout-their-entire-lives-what-about-birds/384709.md?page=1)