The avian respiratory system includes an immobilized, nearly volume-constant, gas-exchanging lung connected to a set of air sacs that fill the body cavity. These micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of deceased African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were used to analyse anatomical variation in the the gas-exchanging lung by taking select metrics and by generating 3D surface models of airways. The data include select portions of eleven axial µCT image series taken every 94.19–97.23 µm and one axial µCT series taken every 41.08 µm.

Eleven adult deceased specimens of P. erithacus were intubated and inflated with a 60cc syringe before imaging on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT at the University of Utah. One specimen was re-inflated at a later date using the same method and scanned at higher resolution on an X-Tek HMXST225 µCT at Harvard’s Center for Nanoscale Systems in Cambridge, MA. All parrots died of natural causes that did not include respiratory disease. Each bird was renamed to preserve anonymity.

1. African grey parrot 1, “Aristotle”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before being scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kVP 80; slice thickness 94.19 µm). 630 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
2. African grey parrot 2, “Euripides”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before being scanned in ventral recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kVP 80; slice thickness 94.22 µm). 560 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
3. African grey parrot 3, “Socrates”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before being scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kVP 80; slice thickness 94.19 µm). 430 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
4. African grey parrot 4, “Zeno”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kVP 80; slice thickness 91.85 µm). 550 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
5. African grey parrot 5, “Aristophanes”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvP 80; slice thickness 97.19 µm). 570 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
6. African grey parrot 6, “Homer”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 94.38 µm). 570 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
7. African grey parrot 7, “Pythagoras”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 97.23 µm). 600 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
8. African grey parrot 8, “Aeschylus”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in ventral recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 97.23 µm). 570 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
9. African grey parrot 9, “Sophocles”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in ventral recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 94.22 µm). 600 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
10. African grey parrot 10, “Plato”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in ventral recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 97.23 µm). 600 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
11. African grey parrot 11, “Meno”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in dorsal recumbency at the University of Utah on a Siemens Inveon PET/SPECT/µCT (kvp 80; slice thickness 97.19 µm). 560 images from the full body scan have been selected that contain the gas-exchanging lung.
12. African grey parrot 3, High-resolution “Socrates”: micro-computed tomography (µCT) scan of an intact, deceased Psittacus erithacus. The specimen was intubated and the respiratory system inflated with a 60cc syringe before scanned in ventral recumbency at Harvard’s Center for Nanoscale Systems in Cambridge, MA on an X-Tek HMXST225 µCT (kVP 75; slice thickness 41.08 µm). The entire scan was restricted to the region of the gas-exchanging lung. All 1587 slices containing data (exported image format: TIFF) are included here.