Wellington, Dec 21 (ANI): Too much of chocolate can be bad for health. However, for one greedy parrot, it turned out to be positively fatal.

The parrot was found dead outside a hotel kitchen in Mt Cook village.

When Massey University wildlife pathologist Brett Gartrell decided to find out the cause, he found a “sticky brown gunk” in its stomach, causing him to state that the bird really pigged out.

An earlier report on the birds death that appeared in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal revealed that the parrot had been involved in behavioural tests of problem-solving ability, and that it had been in good health before going on its binge session.

However, the news reported in the New Scientist has also caused some cause for concern, as it raises the question whether or not dark chocolate is good for health, reports the Dominion Post.

Adding to the concern is that the parrot was not the only animal to drop dead after eating chocolate.

One reason, the report suggest chocolate may not be good is because it contains caffeine and its chemical relatives, collectively called methylxanthines that can be highly toxic to some animals.

The good news for humans is that with the speed it takes our to metabolise theobromine - the most common type of methylxanthine in chocolate chocolate would prove fatal only if we ate 50kg in a single sitting.

“Based on caffeine toxicity, an average adult would have to gorge on around 50kg of chocolate in a single sitting to get anywhere near a lethal dose,” the report stated. (ANI)