Amazon parrot
Encyclopedia
Amazon parrot is the common name for a parrot
of the genus
Amazona. These are medium-size parrots native to the New World
ranging from South America
to Mexico
and the Caribbean
.
Most Amazon parrots are predominantly green, with accenting colors that depend on the species and can be quite vivid. They feed primarily on seeds, nuts
, and fruit
s, supplemented by leafy matter.
Many Amazon parrots have a remarkable ability to mimic human speech and other sounds. Partly because of this they are popular as pet
s or companion parrot
s, and a small industry has developed in breeding parrots in captivity for this market. This popularity has led to many parrots being taken from the wild to the extent that some species have become threatened. CITES treaties have made trapping wild parrots for the pet trade illegal to protect wild populations.
The taxonomy
of the Yellow-crowned Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala complex) is disputed, with some authorities only listing a single species (A. ochrocephala), while others split it into as many as three species (A. ochrocephala, A. auropalliata and A. oratrix). The split is primarily based on differences related to extension of yellow to the plumage and the colour of bill and legs. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA do not support the traditional split.
(Alipiopsitta xanthops) was traditionally placed within this genus of Amazon parrots, but recent research has shown that it is closer to the Short-tailed Parrot
and the species from the genus Pionus
, resulting in it being transferred to the monotypic
genus Alipiopsitta.
and Guadeloupe
are now extinct. It is not known if they were separate species, subspecies, or if they originated form parrots introduced to the islands by humans, and so they are regarded as hypothetical extinct species
. There are no surviving remains of them, and their taxonomy may never be established. Populations of several parrot
species were described mainly in the unscientific writings of early travelers, and subsequently scientifically described by several naturalists (to have their names linked to the species that they were proposing) mainly in the twentieth century, with no more evidence than the earlier observations and without specimens.
The Yellow-headed Amazon, Yellow-naped Amazon, Orange-winged Amazon, and Blue-fronted Amazon
are some of the Amazon parrot species which are commonly kept as pets. Amazon parrots, together with macaw
s, and the African Grey Parrot
are all known for their exceptional vocal abilities, playfulness, and dexterity with their feet. Hand reared parrots are very loyal companions, and they can live for 50 years or more in captivity. However, some amazons—even well trained ones—can be aggressive during mating season. In order to maintain health and happiness, pet parrots require much more attention than domesticated animals such as dogs or cats. They require communication, manipulative toys, supervised time out of the cage, and so forth, or they may develop self-destructive behaviors. They have a strong, innate need to chew, and thus require safe, destructible toys.
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Amazona. These are medium-size parrots native to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
ranging from South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Most Amazon parrots are predominantly green, with accenting colors that depend on the species and can be quite vivid. They feed primarily on seeds, nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
, and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, supplemented by leafy matter.
Many Amazon parrots have a remarkable ability to mimic human speech and other sounds. Partly because of this they are popular as pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
s or companion parrot
Companion parrot
Companion parrot is a general term used for any parrot kept as a pet that interacts abundantly with its human counterpart. Generally, most species of parrot can make good companions....
s, and a small industry has developed in breeding parrots in captivity for this market. This popularity has led to many parrots being taken from the wild to the extent that some species have become threatened. CITES treaties have made trapping wild parrots for the pet trade illegal to protect wild populations.
Classification
- Cuban Amazon, Amazona leucocephala
- Yellow-billed AmazonYellow-billed AmazonThe Yellow-billed Amazon, also called the Jamaican Amazon, is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is a predominantly green parrot with a short tail and pink throat and neck...
, Amazona collaria - Hispaniolan AmazonHispaniolan AmazonThe Hispaniolan Amazon or Hispaniolan Parrot is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is found on Hispaniola , and has been introduced to Puerto Rico, and the U.S...
, Amazona ventralis - Puerto Rican Amazon, Amazona vittata
- Yucatan Amazon, Amazona xantholora
- White-fronted Amazon, Amazona albifrons
- Black-billed AmazonBlack-billed AmazonThe Black-billed Amazon, Amazona agilis, is a parrot endemic to Jamaica. Sometimes called the Black-billed Parrot, this Amazon parrot is mostly green with small patches of red on the wing and sometimes flecked on the head. Its bill makes it easy to separate from most other Amazons, including the...
, Amazona agilis - Tucumán AmazonTucumán AmazonThe Tucumán Amazon, Amazona tucumana is a medium-sized species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is mainly green and has red at the front of its head above its pale beak. It is found in woodland in the Yungas of Argentina and Bolivia...
, Amazona tucumana - Red-spectacled AmazonRed-spectacled AmazonThe Red-spectacled Amazon is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay....
, Amazona pretrei - Red-crowned Amazon, Amazona viridigenalis
- Lilac-crowned Amazon, Amazona finschi
- Red-lored Amazon, Amazona autumnalis
- Lilacine AmazonLilacine AmazonThe Lilacine Amazon , also known as the Ecuadorian Red-lored Amazon, is an Amazon parrot native to Ecuador in South America. A subspecies of the Red-lored Amazon, the Lilacine Amazon is generally smaller than its fellow subspecies, with a black beak and more subdued coloring...
, Amazona autumnalis lilacina
- Lilacine Amazon
- Blue-cheeked AmazonBlue-cheeked AmazonThe Blue-cheeked Amazon, Amazona dufresniana, also known as Blue-cheeked Parrot or Dufresne's Amazon, is a parrot found in northeast South America in eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and possibly far northern Brazil. It lives in forest and savanna woodlands up to 1700 m.It is about 34 cm...
, Amazona dufresniana - Red-browed AmazonRed-browed AmazonThe Red-browed Amazon is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is endemic to Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil...
, Amazona rhodocorytha - Red-tailed AmazonRed-tailed AmazonThe Red-tailed Amazon , also known as the Red-tailed Parrot, is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is endemic to coastal regions in the south-east Brazilian states of São Paulo and Paraná...
, Amazona brasiliensis - Festive AmazonFestive AmazonThe Festive Amazon , also known as the Festive Parrot, is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. It is associated with forest and woodland growing near major rivers. Locally it is also found in coastal mangroves...
, Amazona festiva - Yellow-shouldered Amazon, Amazona barbadensis
- Blue-fronted AmazonBlue-fronted AmazonThe Blue-fronted Amazon , also called the Turquoise-fronted Amazon and Blue-fronted Parrot, is a South American species of Amazon parrot and one of the most common Amazon parrots kept in captivity as a pet or companion parrot...
, Amazona aestiva - Yellow-crowned AmazonYellow-crowned AmazonThe Yellow-crowned Amazon or Yellow-crowned Parrot , is a species of parrot, native to the tropical South America and Panama. The taxonomy is highly complex, and the Yellow-headed and Yellow-naped Amazon are sometimes considered subspecies of the Yellow-crowned Amazon...
, Amazona ochrocephala- Panama AmazonPanama AmazonThe Panama Amazon, also known as the Panama Yellow-headed Amazon, is a subspecies of the Yellow-crowned Amazon, and is endemic to Panama and northwest Colombia...
, Amazona ochrocephala panamensis
- Panama Amazon
- Yellow-naped Amazon, Amazona auropalliata
- Yellow-headed Amazon, Amazona oratrix
- Kawall's AmazonKawall's AmazonThe Kawall's Amazon , also known as the White-faced Amazon, White-cheeked Amazon or Kawall's Parrot, is a relatively large species of parrot in the Psittacidae family...
, Amazona kawalli - Orange-winged Amazon, Amazona amazonica
- Scaly-naped AmazonScaly-naped AmazonThe Scaly-naped Parrot is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela....
, Amazona mercenaria - Mealy Amazon, Amazona farinosa
- Vinaceous-breasted Amazon, Amazona vinacea
- St. Lucia Amazon, Amazona versicolor
- Red-necked Amazon, Amazona arausiaca
- St. Vincent Amazon, Amazona guildingii
- Imperial Amazon, Amazona imperialis
The taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of the Yellow-crowned Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala complex) is disputed, with some authorities only listing a single species (A. ochrocephala), while others split it into as many as three species (A. ochrocephala, A. auropalliata and A. oratrix). The split is primarily based on differences related to extension of yellow to the plumage and the colour of bill and legs. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA do not support the traditional split.
Re-classification of the Yellow-faced Parrot
The Yellow-faced ParrotYellow-faced Parrot
The Yellow-faced Parrot , formerly also known as the Yellow-faced Amazon, is the only species of the genus Alipiopsitta. It is a Neotropical parrot , and was classified in the genus Amazona for many years. It is a predominantly green and yellow-plumaged bird with a yellow head...
(Alipiopsitta xanthops) was traditionally placed within this genus of Amazon parrots, but recent research has shown that it is closer to the Short-tailed Parrot
Short-tailed Parrot
The Short-tailed Parrot is the only species of the genus Graydidascalus. It is found along both banks of the Amazon river and other major Amazonian rivers in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru...
and the species from the genus Pionus
Pionus
Pionus is a genus of medium-sized parrots native to Mexico, and Central and South America. Characteristic of the genus are the chunky body, bare eye ring , and short square tail. They are superficially similar to Amazon parrots, but smaller and in flight their wing-strokes are far deeper...
, resulting in it being transferred to the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus Alipiopsitta.
Hypothetically extinct species
Populations of Amazon parrots that lived on the Caribbean islands of MartiniqueMartinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
are now extinct. It is not known if they were separate species, subspecies, or if they originated form parrots introduced to the islands by humans, and so they are regarded as hypothetical extinct species
Hypothetical extinct species
Several extinct species have been postulated, but owing to a lack of evidence they can only be regarded as hypothetical extinct species. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separate species, a subspecies, or an introduced species.-Parrots:...
. There are no surviving remains of them, and their taxonomy may never be established. Populations of several parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
species were described mainly in the unscientific writings of early travelers, and subsequently scientifically described by several naturalists (to have their names linked to the species that they were proposing) mainly in the twentieth century, with no more evidence than the earlier observations and without specimens.
- Martinique AmazonMartinique AmazonThe Martinique Amazon, Amazona martinicana, was a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It was endemic to Martinique. It became extinct due to habitat loss as Martinique was cleared for agriculture. It has not been recorded since 1722...
, Amazona martinica (hypothetical extinct species). A.H. Clark, 1905. - Guadeloupe AmazonGuadeloupe AmazonThe Guadeloupe Parrot was a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It was endemic to Guadeloupe. It was hunted, and by 1779 was already rare. Today it is extinct....
, Amazona violacea (hypothetical extinct species). Originally called Psittacus violaceus by J.F. GmelinJohann Friedrich GmelinJohann Friedrich Gmelin was a German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist and malacologist.- Education :Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen...
in 1789.
Aviculture
Blue-fronted Amazon
The Blue-fronted Amazon , also called the Turquoise-fronted Amazon and Blue-fronted Parrot, is a South American species of Amazon parrot and one of the most common Amazon parrots kept in captivity as a pet or companion parrot...
are some of the Amazon parrot species which are commonly kept as pets. Amazon parrots, together with macaw
Macaw
Macaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...
s, and the African Grey Parrot
African Grey Parrot
The African Grey Parrot , also known as the Grey Parrot, is a medium-sized parrot found in the primary and secondary rainforest of West and Central Africa. Experts regard it as one of the most intelligent birds. They feed primarily on palm nuts, seeds, fruits, leafy matter, but have been observed...
are all known for their exceptional vocal abilities, playfulness, and dexterity with their feet. Hand reared parrots are very loyal companions, and they can live for 50 years or more in captivity. However, some amazons—even well trained ones—can be aggressive during mating season. In order to maintain health and happiness, pet parrots require much more attention than domesticated animals such as dogs or cats. They require communication, manipulative toys, supervised time out of the cage, and so forth, or they may develop self-destructive behaviors. They have a strong, innate need to chew, and thus require safe, destructible toys.