Parrot
Encyclopedia
Parrots, also known as psittacines (icon), are bird
s 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
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
as well. The greatest diversity
of parrots is found in South America
and Australasia
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
s (or nest box
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
from which hatch altricial
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pet
s. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
, as well as hunting
, habitat loss and competition
from invasive species
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
s.
Researchers are unsure about the origins of parrots. Psittaciforme diversity in South America
and Australasia
suggests that the order
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
dinosaur
with a birdlike beak
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
s or frogmouth
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
s, songbird
s, trogon
s, woodpecker
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
", hawk
s and owl
s, and the puzzling mousebird
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Fossils assignable to Psittaciformes (though not yet the present-day parrots) date from slightly later in the Eocene
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
and Germany
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
Some Paleogene
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Parrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
and Cacatuidae
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacillus licheniformis
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Family Strigopidae: The New Zealand
parrots.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
-Clade 2
-Clade 3
-Clade 4
-Clade 5
-Clade 6
Extant species range in size from the Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot, at under 10 g (0.35 oz.) in weight and 8 cm (3.2 inches) in length, to the Hyacinth Macaw
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
.
Parrots are found on all tropical and subtropical continents including Australia
and Oceania
, South Asia
, Southeast Asia
, Central America
, South America
and Africa
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
and the Philippines
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern Mexico
and the Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
), Wallacea
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
regions of South America and New Zealand
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
(including New York City
), the United Kingdom
, Belgium
and Spain
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
of parrots consists of seed
s, fruit
, nectar, pollen
, bud
s, and sometimes arthropod
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
of the large and powerful bill
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
except the Pesquet's Parrot
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
The lories and lorikeets, hanging parrot
s and Swift Parrot
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
s prey on water snail
s, and famously the Kea
s of New Zealand
will kill juvenile petrels
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
s and the Kākā
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
.
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Only the Monk Parakeet
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Studies with captive birds have given insight into which birds are the most intelligent. While parrots are able to mimic human speech, studies with the African Grey Parrot
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
and N'kisi
). Along with crow
s, raven
s, and jay
s (family Corvidae
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
suggested a high learning ability in an African Grey Parrot
named Alex
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
based ecotourism
.
Parrots are popular as pet
s due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept as pet
s include conures, macaw
s, Amazons
, cockatoos, African Greys
, lovebirds, cockatiel
s, Budgerigar
s, Eclectus
, Caiques, parakeet
s, Pionus
and Poicephalus
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
s, hanging parrot
s, and budgies
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Parrot species are found in most zoos, and a few zoos participate in breeding and conservation programs. Some zoos have organised displays of trained parrots and other birds doing tricks.
The popularity of parrots as pets has led to a thriving—and often illegal—trade in the birds, and some species are now threatened with extinction. A combination of trapping of wild birds and damage to parrot habitats makes survival difficult or even impossible for some species of parrot. Importation of wild caught parrots into the US and Europe is illegal.
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
's Loro Parque
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Parrots have featured in human writings, story, art, humor, religion and music for thousands of years. From the Roman poet Ovid's "The Dead Parrot"(Latin), (English) to Monty Python
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
such as the bestiary
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
, the hero Laka
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
and Rio
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
people of ancient Peru
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
's 1681 play The False Count.
Escaped parrots of several species have become established in the wild outside their natural ranges and in some cases outside the natural range of parrots. Among the earliest instances were pet Red Shining-parrot
s from Fiji
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
, Texas
and Florida
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Many parrot species are in decline, and several are extinct. Of the 350 or so living species, 130 are listed as near threatened
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
such as rat
s and cats
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
s 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
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
as well. The greatest diversity
of parrots is found in South America
and Australasia
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
s (or nest box
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
from which hatch altricial
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pet
s. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
, as well as hunting
, habitat loss and competition
from invasive species
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
s.
Researchers are unsure about the origins of parrots. Psittaciforme diversity in South America
and Australasia
suggests that the order
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
dinosaur
with a birdlike beak
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
s or frogmouth
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
s, songbird
s, trogon
s, woodpecker
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
", hawk
s and owl
s, and the puzzling mousebird
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Fossils assignable to Psittaciformes (though not yet the present-day parrots) date from slightly later in the Eocene
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
and Germany
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
Some Paleogene
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Parrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
and Cacatuidae
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacillus licheniformis
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Family Strigopidae: The New Zealand
parrots.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
-Clade 2
-Clade 3
-Clade 4
-Clade 5
-Clade 6
Extant species range in size from the Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot, at under 10 g (0.35 oz.) in weight and 8 cm (3.2 inches) in length, to the Hyacinth Macaw
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
.
Parrots are found on all tropical and subtropical continents including Australia
and Oceania
, South Asia
, Southeast Asia
, Central America
, South America
and Africa
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
and the Philippines
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern Mexico
and the Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
), Wallacea
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
regions of South America and New Zealand
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
(including New York City
), the United Kingdom
, Belgium
and Spain
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
of parrots consists of seed
s, fruit
, nectar, pollen
, bud
s, and sometimes arthropod
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
of the large and powerful bill
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
except the Pesquet's Parrot
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
The lories and lorikeets, hanging parrot
s and Swift Parrot
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
s prey on water snail
s, and famously the Kea
s of New Zealand
will kill juvenile petrels
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
s and the Kākā
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
.
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Only the Monk Parakeet
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Studies with captive birds have given insight into which birds are the most intelligent. While parrots are able to mimic human speech, studies with the African Grey Parrot
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
and N'kisi
). Along with crow
s, raven
s, and jay
s (family Corvidae
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
suggested a high learning ability in an African Grey Parrot
named Alex
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
based ecotourism
.
Parrots are popular as pet
s due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept as pet
s include conures, macaw
s, Amazons
, cockatoos, African Greys
, lovebirds, cockatiel
s, Budgerigar
s, Eclectus
, Caiques, parakeet
s, Pionus
and Poicephalus
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
s, hanging parrot
s, and budgies
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Parrot species are found in most zoos, and a few zoos participate in breeding and conservation programs. Some zoos have organised displays of trained parrots and other birds doing tricks.
The popularity of parrots as pets has led to a thriving—and often illegal—trade in the birds, and some species are now threatened with extinction. A combination of trapping of wild birds and damage to parrot habitats makes survival difficult or even impossible for some species of parrot. Importation of wild caught parrots into the US and Europe is illegal.
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
's Loro Parque
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Parrots have featured in human writings, story, art, humor, religion and music for thousands of years. From the Roman poet Ovid's "The Dead Parrot"(Latin), (English) to Monty Python
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
such as the bestiary
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
, the hero Laka
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
and Rio
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
people of ancient Peru
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
's 1681 play The False Count.
Escaped parrots of several species have become established in the wild outside their natural ranges and in some cases outside the natural range of parrots. Among the earliest instances were pet Red Shining-parrot
s from Fiji
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
, Texas
and Florida
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Many parrot species are in decline, and several are extinct. Of the 350 or so living species, 130 are listed as near threatened
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
such as rat
s and cats
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
Parrots, also known as psittacines (icon), are bird
s 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
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
as well. The greatest diversity
of parrots is found in South America
and Australasia
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
s (or nest box
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
from which hatch altricial
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pet
s. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
, as well as hunting
, habitat loss and competition
from invasive species
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
s.
Origins and evolution
Researchers are unsure about the origins of parrots. Psittaciforme diversity in South America
and Australasia
suggests that the order
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
dinosaur
with a birdlike beak
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
s or frogmouth
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
s, songbird
s, trogon
s, woodpecker
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
", hawk
s and owl
s, and the puzzling mousebird
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Fossils assignable to Psittaciformes (though not yet the present-day parrots) date from slightly later in the Eocene
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
and Germany
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
Some Paleogene
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Phylogeny
Phylogenetic relationship between the three parrot families based on the available literature
Parrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
and Cacatuidae
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacillus licheniformis
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Systematics
The following classification is a version in which several subfamilies are recognised. Molecular data (see above) suggests that several subfamilies might indeed be valid and perhaps even be elevated to family rank, but the arrangement of tribes in these is not well resolved.
Family Strigopidae: The New Zealand
parrots.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
-Clade 2
-Clade 3
-Clade 4
-Clade 5
-Clade 6
Other lists
Extant species range in size from the Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot, at under 10 g (0.35 oz.) in weight and 8 cm (3.2 inches) in length, to the Hyacinth Macaw
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
.
Parrots are found on all tropical and subtropical continents including Australia
and Oceania
, South Asia
, Southeast Asia
, Central America
, South America
and Africa
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
and the Philippines
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern Mexico
and the Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
), Wallacea
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
regions of South America and New Zealand
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
(including New York City
), the United Kingdom
, Belgium
and Spain
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
Diet
The diet
of parrots consists of seed
s, fruit
, nectar, pollen
, bud
s, and sometimes arthropod
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
of the large and powerful bill
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
except the Pesquet's Parrot
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
The lories and lorikeets, hanging parrot
s and Swift Parrot
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
s prey on water snail
s, and famously the Kea
s of New Zealand
will kill juvenile petrels
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
s and the Kākā
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
.
Breeding
Although there are a few exceptions, parrots are monogamous breeders which nest in cavities and hold no territories
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Only the Monk Parakeet
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Intelligence and learning
Studies with captive birds have given insight into which birds are the most intelligent. While parrots are able to mimic human speech, studies with the African Grey Parrot
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
and N'kisi
). Along with crow
s, raven
s, and jay
s (family Corvidae
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
suggested a high learning ability in an African Grey Parrot
named Alex
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
based ecotourism
.
Pets
Parrots are popular as pet
s due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept as pet
s include conures, macaw
s, Amazons
, cockatoos, African Greys
, lovebirds, cockatiel
s, Budgerigar
s, Eclectus
, Caiques, parakeet
s, Pionus
and Poicephalus
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
s, hanging parrot
s, and budgies
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Zoos
Parrot species are found in most zoos, and a few zoos participate in breeding and conservation programs. Some zoos have organised displays of trained parrots and other birds doing tricks.
Trade
The popularity of parrots as pets has led to a thriving—and often illegal—trade in the birds, and some species are now threatened with extinction. A combination of trapping of wild birds and damage to parrot habitats makes survival difficult or even impossible for some species of parrot. Importation of wild caught parrots into the US and Europe is illegal.
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
's Loro Parque
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Culture
Parrots have featured in human writings, story, art, humor, religion and music for thousands of years. From the Roman poet Ovid's "The Dead Parrot"(Latin), (English) to Monty Python
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
such as the bestiary
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
, the hero Laka
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
and Rio
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
people of ancient Peru
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
's 1681 play The False Count.
Feral populations
Escaped parrots of several species have become established in the wild outside their natural ranges and in some cases outside the natural range of parrots. Among the earliest instances were pet Red Shining-parrot
s from Fiji
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
, Texas
and Florida
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Threats and conservation
Many parrot species are in decline, and several are extinct. Of the 350 or so living species, 130 are listed as near threatened
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
such as rat
s and cats
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s of the roughly 372 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in 86 genera that make up the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Psittaciformes, found in most tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
and subtropical
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
regions. The order is subdivided into three families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
: the Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
Pantropical
In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
as well. The greatest diversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of parrots is found in 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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
Tree hollow
A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. These are predominantly found in old trees, whether living or not...
s (or nest box
Nest box
A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
from which hatch altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity 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. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
Wildlife trade
The international wildlife trade is a serious conservation problem, addressed by the United Nations' Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES, which currently has 175 member countries called Parties. The 15th meeting of the Parties took place in Doha,...
, as well as hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, habitat loss and competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
from invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
Charismatic megafauna
Charismatic megafauna are large animal species with widespread popular appeal that environmental activists use to achieve conservation goals well beyond just those species...
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s.
Origins and evolution
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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
suggests that the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
with a birdlike beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
Arboreal locomotion
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In every habitat in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may only scale trees occasionally, while others are exclusively arboreal. These habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals...
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
Potoo
The potoos are a family, Nyctibiidae of near passerine birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called Poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. There are seven species in one genus, Nyctibius, in tropical Central and South America.These are nocturnal insectivores which...
s or frogmouth
Frogmouth
The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds related to the nightjars. They are found from India across southern Asia to Australia.They are named for their large flattened hooked bills and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects. Their flight is weak.They rest horizontally on...
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae is a clade of birds. It includes the living families and orders Caprimulgidae , Nyctibiidae , Apodiformes , as well as the Aegotheliformes whose distinctness was only recently realized...
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
Near passerine
Near passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod All near passerines are land birds...
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
s, songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s, trogon
Trogon
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family contains 39 species in eight genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the mid-Eocene. They might constitute a member of the basal radiation of...
s, woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
Coraciiformes
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colorful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...
", hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s and owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, and the puzzling mousebird
Mousebird
The mousebirds are a small group of birds which have no known close affinities to other groups, though they and the parrots and cockatoos may be closer to each other than to other birds. The mousebirds are therefore given order status as Coliiformes...
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
Columbiformes
Columbiformes are an avian order that includes the very widespread and successful doves and pigeons, classified in the family Columbidae, and the extinct Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire, long classified as a second family Raphidae. 313 species, found worldwide, comprise the Columbiformes order....
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
The most extreme change in Earth surface conditions during the Cenozoic Era began at the temporal boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs . This event, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum , was associated with rapid global...
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
Fur Formation
Essentially the Fur Formation is defined as a clayey diatomite with a lage number of volcanic ash layers.The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the Limfjord region of Denmark from Silstrup via Mors and Fur to Ertebølle, and can be seen in many cliffs...
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
Humerus
The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites is an extinct genus of Threskiornithidae related to modern ibises and has a single named species Rhynchaeites meselensis. It lived in today's Germany during the mid-Eocene and its remains were found in the famous Messel pit....
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
- PsittacopesPsittacopesPsittacopes is an extinct genus of parrot from Middle Eocene. One species is recorded from Messel, Germany , and other three possible unnamed species are from London Clay, England.-References:* Mayr, G. '. Springer, 2009....
(Early/Middle Eocene of Geiseltal, Germany)—basal? - Serudaptus—pseudasturid or psittacid?
- Pseudasturidae (Halcyornithidae may be correct name)
- Pseudasturides – formerly Pseudastur
- Vastanavidae
- Vastanavis (Early Eocene of Vastan, India)
- Quercypsittidae
- QuercypsittaQuercypsittaQuercypsittais a genus of prehistoric bird from the Late Eocene Quercy phosphorites in France.Known from rather fragmentary remains , it was described as a parrot sufficiently distinct to be included in its own family, the Quercypsittidae...
(Late Eocene)
- Quercypsitta
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
- ArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France...
(Late Oligocene/Early Miocene) - Xenopsitta (Early Miocene of Czechia)
- Psittacidae gen. et spp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand)—several species
- Bavaripsitta (Middle Miocene of Steinberg, Germany)
- Psittacidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of France)—erroneously placed in Pararallus dispar, includes "Psittacus" lartetianus
Some Paleogene
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
- Palaeopsittacus (Early – Middle Eocene of NW Europe)—caprimulgiform (podargid?) or quercypsittid?
- "PrecursorPrecursor (bird)"Precursor" is a controversial prehistoric bird genus from the Early Eocene. It was established based on fossils found in England, e.g. in the famous London Clay deposits...
" (Early Eocene)—part of this apparent chimeraChimera (genetics)A chimera or chimaera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes involved in sexual reproduction. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic...
seems to be of a pseudasturid or psittacid - Pulchrapollia (Early Eocene)—includes "Primobucco" olsoni—psittaciform (pseudasturid or psittacid)?
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Phylogeny
Phylogenetic relationship between the three parrot families based on the available literatureParrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
and Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin pigments cause the bright-red, orange, and yellow colours of parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin resist feather-degrading Bacillus licheniformis better than white ones....
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis is a bacterium commonly found in the soil. It is found on bird feathers, especially chest and back plumage, and most often in ground-dwelling birds and aquatic species ....
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Systematics
The following classification is a version in which several subfamilies are recognised. Molecular data (see above) suggests that several subfamilies might indeed be valid and perhaps even be elevated to family rank, but the arrangement of tribes in these is not well resolved.New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
parrots.
- Tribe NestoriniNestor (genus)The genus Nestor is the only genus of the Nestorini tribe. Together with the Kakapo in the Strigopini tribe, they form the small parrot family Strigopidae. The genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham...
: 1 genus with only 2 living species, the KeaKeaThe Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
and KākāKakaThe New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
of the New Zealand region. - Tribe StrigopiniKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
: The flightless, critically endangered KakapoKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
of New Zealand.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
- Traditional subdivisions have been found incorrect in recent studies and no new subdivision has been proposed yet.
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
- Tribe PsittaciniPsittaciniTribus Psittacini consists of Afrotropical parrots; there are 8 species in 2 genera. Traditionally, the Vasa parrots are also included in this tribe, but that inclusion is not supported by molecular studies. Several of these species have subspecies including the African Grey Parrot which has 2...
: Afrotropical parrots, about a dozen species in two genera. - Tribe AriniAriniArini may refer to:* Arini, the tribe of Neotropical parrots* Arini, a village in Găiceana Commune, Bacău County, Romania* Arini, a village in Măieruş Commune, Braşov County, Romania* Arini, Greece, a village in the Ilia prefecture, Greece...
: Neotropical parrots, about 160 species in some 30 genera. Probably 2 distinct lineages:
-Clade 2
- Tribe Psittrichadini: Three genera with four species.
-Clade 3
- Tribe Micropsittinae: Six species of pygmy parrot, all in a single genus.
- Tribe PsittaculiniPsittaculiniPsittaculini is a tribe of parrots of the Psittacidae family. The subdivisions within the tribe are controversial.-Tribe Psittaculini:* Genus Psittinus** Blue-rumped Parrot, Psittinus cyanurus* Genus Geoffroyus...
: Paleotropic psittaculine parrots, distributed from India to Australasia.
-Clade 4
- Tribe Platycercini: RosellaRosellaA rosella is one of five to eight species of colorful Australian parrots in the genus Platycercus. Platycercus means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the rosellas and other members of the broad-tailed parrot tribe...
s and relatives; around 20 species in eight genera.
-Clade 5
- Tribe Melopsittacini: one genus with one species, the BudgerigarBudgerigarThe Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
. - Tribe Lorini: Around a dozen genera with some 50 species of lorikeets and lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific.
- Tribe Cyclopsittacini: fig parrots, two genera, all from New Guinea or nearby.
-Clade 6
- Unnamed Tribe: Genera Loriculus, Agapornis and Bolbopsittacus.
Other lists
- A list of all parrots sortable by common or binomial name, about 350 speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 generaGenusIn 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...
- Taxonomic list of true parrots which provides the sequence of Psittacidae genera and species following a traditional two-subfamily approach, as in the taxobox above, about 330 species.
- List of Strigopidae
- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 genera
- List of macaws
- List of Amazon parrots
- List of Aratinga parakeets
Morphology
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
Bill tip organ
The 'bill tip organ' is a structure found near the tip of the bill in several types of birds that forage particularly by probing. This consists of pits in the bill surface which in the living bird is occupied by cells that sense pressure changes...
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
Vini
Vini is a genus of birds endemic to the islands of the tropical Pacific. There are five extant species of these small lorikeets ranging from eastern Fiji through Samoa, French Polynesia, and as far east as Henderson Island. All members of the genus have exceptional bright plumage, particularly the...
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
Red-fan Parrot
The Red-fan Parrot , also known as the Hawk-headed Parrot, is an unusual New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest...
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
Neck frill
Neck frill is the popular term for the relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles with either a bony support such as those present on the skulls of dinosaurs of the suborder Marginocephalia or a cartilaginous one as in the Frill-necked Lizard...
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
Eclectus Parrot
The Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus, is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia and the Maluku Islands...
.
Distribution and habitat
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, 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...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern 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 Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
), Wallacea
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and...
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
regions of South America and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
Carolina Parakeet
The Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It was found from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. It was the only species at the time classified in the genus Conuropsis...
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
), the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
Behaviour
There are numerous difficulties in studying wild parrots, as they are difficult to catch and once caught they are difficult to mark. Most wild bird studies rely on bandingBird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
Diet
The dietFood
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
of parrots consists of seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, 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,...
, nectar, pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
, bud
Bud
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have...
s, and sometimes arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of the large and powerful bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
except the Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot also known as the Vulturine Parrot , is the only member of its genus, and its genus is the only member of the tribe Psittrichadini...
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s and Swift Parrot
Swift Parrot
The Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
Golden-winged Parakeet
The Golden-winged Parakeet is a species of bird in the Psittacidae family, the true parrots.It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, , and Venezuela in the eastern Amazon Basin and the lower Orinoco River region of eastern Venezuela.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical...
s prey on water snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, and famously the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
s of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
will kill juvenile petrels
Procellariidae
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes , which also includes the albatrosses, the storm-petrels, and the diving petrels.The procellariids are...
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
Antipodes Island Parakeet
The Antipodes Parakeet or Antipodes Island Parakeet is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, one of two parrot species found on the islands. It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus at 30 cm long...
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s and the Kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
.
Breeding
Although there are a few exceptions, parrots are monogamous breeders which nest in cavities and hold no territoriesTerritory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
Helpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
Blue Lorikeet
The Blue Lorikeet is a small lorikeet from French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. It is also known as the Tahiti Lorikieet, Violet Lorikeet, Tahitian Lory, Blue Lory, Nunbird, and the Indigo Lory...
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
Vernal Hanging Parrot
The Vernal Hanging Parrot is a small parrot which is a resident breeder from India , Nepal and some other areas of Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, it is replaced by the very similar endemic Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, . It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit,...
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding,...
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Intelligence and learning
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...
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
and N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
). Along with crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s, raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s, and jay
Jay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s (family Corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
High vocal center
The HVC is a nucleus in the brain of the songbirds necessary for both the learning and the production of bird song...
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
Vasa parrot
The vasa parrots are two species of parrot which are endemic to Madagascar and other islands in the western Indian Ocean.- Taxonomy :There are two species and several subspecies:Coracopsis, Wagler 1832...
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
Stereotypy
A stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance, found in people with mental retardation, autism spectrum disorders, tardive dyskinesia and stereotypic movement disorder. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing,...
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
Sound imitation and speech
Many parrots can imitate human speech or other sounds. A study by Irene PepperbergIrene Pepperberg
Irene Maxine Pepperberg is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. She is an adjunct professor of psychology at Brandeis University and a lecturer at Harvard University...
suggested a high learning ability in an 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...
named Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
Masnavi
The Masnavi, Masnavi-I Ma'navi or Mesnevi , also written Mathnawi, Ma'navi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature...
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
Amazon parrot
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....
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
Co-operate
The journal Animal CognitionAnimal cognition
Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
Relationship with humans
Humans and parrots have a complicated relationship. Economically they can be beneficial to communities as sources of income from the pet trade and are highly marketable tourism draws and symbols. But some species are also economically important pests, particularly some cockatoo species in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
based ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
.
Pets
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 due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
Rose-ringed Parakeet
The Rose-ringed Parakeet , also known as the Ringnecked Parakeet, is a gregarious tropical parakeet species that has an extremely large range. Since the trend of the population appears to be increasing, the species has been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN in 2009.Rose-ringed parakeets are...
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept 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 include conures, 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, Amazons
Amazon parrot
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....
, cockatoos, African Greys
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...
, lovebirds, cockatiel
Cockatiel
The Cockatiel , also known as the Quarrion and the Weiro, is the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia. They are prized as a household pet and companion parrot throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed...
s, Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
s, Eclectus
Eclectus
The parrot genus Eclectus consists of two species, the extant Eclectus Parrot and the extinct Oceanic Eclectus Parrot ....
, Caiques, parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, 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...
and Poicephalus
Poicephalus
The genus Poicephalus comprises nine species of parrots native to various regions of the Afrotropic ecozone, including Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal in the west, Ethiopia in the east, and to Cape Horn in the south...
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
Lovebird
A Lovebird is one of nine species of the genus Agapornis . They are a social and affectionate small parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, while the Grey-headed Lovebird is native to Madagascar...
s, hanging parrot
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s, and budgies
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Zoos
Trade
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
Tony Silva
Tony Silva is an American ornithologist and aviculturist that has authored several books on parrots, hundreds of articles and was curator of birds at Tenerife's Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world...
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
's Loro Parque
Loro Parque
Loro Parque is a zoo located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife, Spain where it houses an extensive and diverse reserve of animal and plant species...
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Culture
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
such as the bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
Polynesian mythology
Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, the hero Laka
Laka
In Hawaiian mythology, Laka is the name of a popular hero from Polynesian mythology....
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
Paulie
Paulie is a 1998 family film about a talking parrot named "Paulie". It was directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, and it was produced by Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, and Allyson Lyon Segan for Mutual Film Company and DreamWorks...
and Rio
Rio (film)
Rio, often promoted as Rio: The Movie, is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in which the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne...
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is a 2005 documentary film directed, produced, and edited by Judy Irving. It chronicles the relationship between Mark Bittner, an unemployed musician who is living rent-free in a cabin in Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California, and a flock of feral parrots ...
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
people of ancient Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
Flag of Dominica
The flag of Dominica was adopted on November 3, 1978, with some small changes having been made in 1981, 1988, and 1990.The flag, adopted in 1978, features the national bird emblem, the sisserou parrot, which also appears on the coat of arms granted July 21, 1961. This parrot is unique to Dominica...
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
Buddhism in China
Chinese Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China since ancient times. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.At the peak of the...
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
Psittacosis
In medicine , psittacosis — also known as parrot disease, parrot fever, and ornithosis — is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Chlamydophila psittaci and contracted from parrots, such as macaws, cockatiels and budgerigars, and pigeons, sparrows, ducks, hens, gulls and many...
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
's 1681 play The False Count.
Feral populations
Red Shining-parrot
The Maroon Shining Parrot or Red Shining-parrot is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It endemic to the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni in Fiji and was introduced to the islands of southern Tonga in prehistoric times. The species is sometimes considered conspecific with the Crimson...
s from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Threats and conservation
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
such as rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s and cats
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
Island tameness
Island tameness is the tendency of many populations and species of animals living on isolated islands to lose their wariness of potential predators, particularly of large animals. The term is partly synonymous with ecological naïvete, which also has a wider meaning referring to the loss of...
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
World Parrot Trust
-History:When the Trust was founded in 1989 at Paradise Park in Cornwall, UK, it was decided that the main objective was to promote the survival of all parrot species and the welfare of individual birds...
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
New Caledonian Lorikeet
The New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema is a potentially extinct lorikeet endemic to the Melanesian island of New Caledonia.-Description:...
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
External links
Parrots, also known as psittacines (icon), are birdBird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s of the roughly 372 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in 86 genera that make up the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Psittaciformes, found in most tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
and subtropical
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
regions. The order is subdivided into three families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
: the Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
Pantropical
In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
as well. The greatest diversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of parrots is found in 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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
Tree hollow
A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. These are predominantly found in old trees, whether living or not...
s (or nest box
Nest box
A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
from which hatch altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity 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. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
Wildlife trade
The international wildlife trade is a serious conservation problem, addressed by the United Nations' Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES, which currently has 175 member countries called Parties. The 15th meeting of the Parties took place in Doha,...
, as well as hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, habitat loss and competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
from invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
Charismatic megafauna
Charismatic megafauna are large animal species with widespread popular appeal that environmental activists use to achieve conservation goals well beyond just those species...
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s.
Origins and evolution
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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
suggests that the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
with a birdlike beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
Arboreal locomotion
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In every habitat in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may only scale trees occasionally, while others are exclusively arboreal. These habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals...
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
Potoo
The potoos are a family, Nyctibiidae of near passerine birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called Poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. There are seven species in one genus, Nyctibius, in tropical Central and South America.These are nocturnal insectivores which...
s or frogmouth
Frogmouth
The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds related to the nightjars. They are found from India across southern Asia to Australia.They are named for their large flattened hooked bills and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects. Their flight is weak.They rest horizontally on...
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae is a clade of birds. It includes the living families and orders Caprimulgidae , Nyctibiidae , Apodiformes , as well as the Aegotheliformes whose distinctness was only recently realized...
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
Near passerine
Near passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod All near passerines are land birds...
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
s, songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s, trogon
Trogon
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family contains 39 species in eight genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the mid-Eocene. They might constitute a member of the basal radiation of...
s, woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
Coraciiformes
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colorful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...
", hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s and owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, and the puzzling mousebird
Mousebird
The mousebirds are a small group of birds which have no known close affinities to other groups, though they and the parrots and cockatoos may be closer to each other than to other birds. The mousebirds are therefore given order status as Coliiformes...
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
Columbiformes
Columbiformes are an avian order that includes the very widespread and successful doves and pigeons, classified in the family Columbidae, and the extinct Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire, long classified as a second family Raphidae. 313 species, found worldwide, comprise the Columbiformes order....
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
The most extreme change in Earth surface conditions during the Cenozoic Era began at the temporal boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs . This event, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum , was associated with rapid global...
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
Fur Formation
Essentially the Fur Formation is defined as a clayey diatomite with a lage number of volcanic ash layers.The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the Limfjord region of Denmark from Silstrup via Mors and Fur to Ertebølle, and can be seen in many cliffs...
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
Humerus
The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites is an extinct genus of Threskiornithidae related to modern ibises and has a single named species Rhynchaeites meselensis. It lived in today's Germany during the mid-Eocene and its remains were found in the famous Messel pit....
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
- PsittacopesPsittacopesPsittacopes is an extinct genus of parrot from Middle Eocene. One species is recorded from Messel, Germany , and other three possible unnamed species are from London Clay, England.-References:* Mayr, G. '. Springer, 2009....
(Early/Middle Eocene of Geiseltal, Germany)—basal? - Serudaptus—pseudasturid or psittacid?
- Pseudasturidae (Halcyornithidae may be correct name)
- Pseudasturides – formerly Pseudastur
- Vastanavidae
- Vastanavis (Early Eocene of Vastan, India)
- Quercypsittidae
- QuercypsittaQuercypsittaQuercypsittais a genus of prehistoric bird from the Late Eocene Quercy phosphorites in France.Known from rather fragmentary remains , it was described as a parrot sufficiently distinct to be included in its own family, the Quercypsittidae...
(Late Eocene)
- Quercypsitta
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
- ArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France...
(Late Oligocene/Early Miocene) - Xenopsitta (Early Miocene of Czechia)
- Psittacidae gen. et spp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand)—several species
- Bavaripsitta (Middle Miocene of Steinberg, Germany)
- Psittacidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of France)—erroneously placed in Pararallus dispar, includes "Psittacus" lartetianus
Some Paleogene
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
- Palaeopsittacus (Early – Middle Eocene of NW Europe)—caprimulgiform (podargid?) or quercypsittid?
- "PrecursorPrecursor (bird)"Precursor" is a controversial prehistoric bird genus from the Early Eocene. It was established based on fossils found in England, e.g. in the famous London Clay deposits...
" (Early Eocene)—part of this apparent chimeraChimera (genetics)A chimera or chimaera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes involved in sexual reproduction. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic...
seems to be of a pseudasturid or psittacid - Pulchrapollia (Early Eocene)—includes "Primobucco" olsoni—psittaciform (pseudasturid or psittacid)?
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Phylogeny
Phylogenetic relationship between the three parrot families based on the available literatureParrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
and Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin pigments cause the bright-red, orange, and yellow colours of parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin resist feather-degrading Bacillus licheniformis better than white ones....
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis is a bacterium commonly found in the soil. It is found on bird feathers, especially chest and back plumage, and most often in ground-dwelling birds and aquatic species ....
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Systematics
The following classification is a version in which several subfamilies are recognised. Molecular data (see above) suggests that several subfamilies might indeed be valid and perhaps even be elevated to family rank, but the arrangement of tribes in these is not well resolved.New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
parrots.
- Tribe NestoriniNestor (genus)The genus Nestor is the only genus of the Nestorini tribe. Together with the Kakapo in the Strigopini tribe, they form the small parrot family Strigopidae. The genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham...
: 1 genus with only 2 living species, the KeaKeaThe Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
and KākāKakaThe New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
of the New Zealand region. - Tribe StrigopiniKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
: The flightless, critically endangered KakapoKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
of New Zealand.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
- Traditional subdivisions have been found incorrect in recent studies and no new subdivision has been proposed yet.
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
- Tribe PsittaciniPsittaciniTribus Psittacini consists of Afrotropical parrots; there are 8 species in 2 genera. Traditionally, the Vasa parrots are also included in this tribe, but that inclusion is not supported by molecular studies. Several of these species have subspecies including the African Grey Parrot which has 2...
: Afrotropical parrots, about a dozen species in two genera. - Tribe AriniAriniArini may refer to:* Arini, the tribe of Neotropical parrots* Arini, a village in Găiceana Commune, Bacău County, Romania* Arini, a village in Măieruş Commune, Braşov County, Romania* Arini, Greece, a village in the Ilia prefecture, Greece...
: Neotropical parrots, about 160 species in some 30 genera. Probably 2 distinct lineages:
-Clade 2
- Tribe Psittrichadini: Three genera with four species.
-Clade 3
- Tribe Micropsittinae: Six species of pygmy parrot, all in a single genus.
- Tribe PsittaculiniPsittaculiniPsittaculini is a tribe of parrots of the Psittacidae family. The subdivisions within the tribe are controversial.-Tribe Psittaculini:* Genus Psittinus** Blue-rumped Parrot, Psittinus cyanurus* Genus Geoffroyus...
: Paleotropic psittaculine parrots, distributed from India to Australasia.
-Clade 4
- Tribe Platycercini: RosellaRosellaA rosella is one of five to eight species of colorful Australian parrots in the genus Platycercus. Platycercus means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the rosellas and other members of the broad-tailed parrot tribe...
s and relatives; around 20 species in eight genera.
-Clade 5
- Tribe Melopsittacini: one genus with one species, the BudgerigarBudgerigarThe Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
. - Tribe Lorini: Around a dozen genera with some 50 species of lorikeets and lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific.
- Tribe Cyclopsittacini: fig parrots, two genera, all from New Guinea or nearby.
-Clade 6
- Unnamed Tribe: Genera Loriculus, Agapornis and Bolbopsittacus.
Other lists
- A list of all parrots sortable by common or binomial name, about 350 speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 generaGenusIn 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...
- Taxonomic list of true parrots which provides the sequence of Psittacidae genera and species following a traditional two-subfamily approach, as in the taxobox above, about 330 species.
- List of Strigopidae
- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 genera
- List of macaws
- List of Amazon parrots
- List of Aratinga parakeets
Morphology
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
Bill tip organ
The 'bill tip organ' is a structure found near the tip of the bill in several types of birds that forage particularly by probing. This consists of pits in the bill surface which in the living bird is occupied by cells that sense pressure changes...
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
Vini
Vini is a genus of birds endemic to the islands of the tropical Pacific. There are five extant species of these small lorikeets ranging from eastern Fiji through Samoa, French Polynesia, and as far east as Henderson Island. All members of the genus have exceptional bright plumage, particularly the...
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
Red-fan Parrot
The Red-fan Parrot , also known as the Hawk-headed Parrot, is an unusual New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest...
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
Neck frill
Neck frill is the popular term for the relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles with either a bony support such as those present on the skulls of dinosaurs of the suborder Marginocephalia or a cartilaginous one as in the Frill-necked Lizard...
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
Eclectus Parrot
The Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus, is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia and the Maluku Islands...
.
Distribution and habitat
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, 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...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern 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 Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
), Wallacea
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and...
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
regions of South America and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
Carolina Parakeet
The Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It was found from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. It was the only species at the time classified in the genus Conuropsis...
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
), the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
Behaviour
There are numerous difficulties in studying wild parrots, as they are difficult to catch and once caught they are difficult to mark. Most wild bird studies rely on bandingBird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
Diet
The dietFood
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
of parrots consists of seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, 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,...
, nectar, pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
, bud
Bud
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have...
s, and sometimes arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of the large and powerful bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
except the Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot also known as the Vulturine Parrot , is the only member of its genus, and its genus is the only member of the tribe Psittrichadini...
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s and Swift Parrot
Swift Parrot
The Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
Golden-winged Parakeet
The Golden-winged Parakeet is a species of bird in the Psittacidae family, the true parrots.It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, , and Venezuela in the eastern Amazon Basin and the lower Orinoco River region of eastern Venezuela.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical...
s prey on water snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, and famously the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
s of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
will kill juvenile petrels
Procellariidae
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes , which also includes the albatrosses, the storm-petrels, and the diving petrels.The procellariids are...
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
Antipodes Island Parakeet
The Antipodes Parakeet or Antipodes Island Parakeet is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, one of two parrot species found on the islands. It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus at 30 cm long...
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s and the Kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
.
Breeding
Although there are a few exceptions, parrots are monogamous breeders which nest in cavities and hold no territoriesTerritory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
Helpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
Blue Lorikeet
The Blue Lorikeet is a small lorikeet from French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. It is also known as the Tahiti Lorikieet, Violet Lorikeet, Tahitian Lory, Blue Lory, Nunbird, and the Indigo Lory...
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
Vernal Hanging Parrot
The Vernal Hanging Parrot is a small parrot which is a resident breeder from India , Nepal and some other areas of Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, it is replaced by the very similar endemic Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, . It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit,...
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding,...
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Intelligence and learning
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...
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
and N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
). Along with crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s, raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s, and jay
Jay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s (family Corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
High vocal center
The HVC is a nucleus in the brain of the songbirds necessary for both the learning and the production of bird song...
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
Vasa parrot
The vasa parrots are two species of parrot which are endemic to Madagascar and other islands in the western Indian Ocean.- Taxonomy :There are two species and several subspecies:Coracopsis, Wagler 1832...
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
Stereotypy
A stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance, found in people with mental retardation, autism spectrum disorders, tardive dyskinesia and stereotypic movement disorder. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing,...
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
Sound imitation and speech
Many parrots can imitate human speech or other sounds. A study by Irene PepperbergIrene Pepperberg
Irene Maxine Pepperberg is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. She is an adjunct professor of psychology at Brandeis University and a lecturer at Harvard University...
suggested a high learning ability in an 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...
named Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
Masnavi
The Masnavi, Masnavi-I Ma'navi or Mesnevi , also written Mathnawi, Ma'navi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature...
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
Amazon parrot
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....
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
Co-operate
The journal Animal CognitionAnimal cognition
Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
Relationship with humans
Humans and parrots have a complicated relationship. Economically they can be beneficial to communities as sources of income from the pet trade and are highly marketable tourism draws and symbols. But some species are also economically important pests, particularly some cockatoo species in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
based ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
.
Pets
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 due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
Rose-ringed Parakeet
The Rose-ringed Parakeet , also known as the Ringnecked Parakeet, is a gregarious tropical parakeet species that has an extremely large range. Since the trend of the population appears to be increasing, the species has been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN in 2009.Rose-ringed parakeets are...
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept 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 include conures, 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, Amazons
Amazon parrot
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....
, cockatoos, African Greys
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...
, lovebirds, cockatiel
Cockatiel
The Cockatiel , also known as the Quarrion and the Weiro, is the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia. They are prized as a household pet and companion parrot throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed...
s, Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
s, Eclectus
Eclectus
The parrot genus Eclectus consists of two species, the extant Eclectus Parrot and the extinct Oceanic Eclectus Parrot ....
, Caiques, parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, 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...
and Poicephalus
Poicephalus
The genus Poicephalus comprises nine species of parrots native to various regions of the Afrotropic ecozone, including Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal in the west, Ethiopia in the east, and to Cape Horn in the south...
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
Lovebird
A Lovebird is one of nine species of the genus Agapornis . They are a social and affectionate small parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, while the Grey-headed Lovebird is native to Madagascar...
s, hanging parrot
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s, and budgies
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Zoos
Trade
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
Tony Silva
Tony Silva is an American ornithologist and aviculturist that has authored several books on parrots, hundreds of articles and was curator of birds at Tenerife's Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world...
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
's Loro Parque
Loro Parque
Loro Parque is a zoo located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife, Spain where it houses an extensive and diverse reserve of animal and plant species...
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Culture
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
such as the bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
Polynesian mythology
Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, the hero Laka
Laka
In Hawaiian mythology, Laka is the name of a popular hero from Polynesian mythology....
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
Paulie
Paulie is a 1998 family film about a talking parrot named "Paulie". It was directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, and it was produced by Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, and Allyson Lyon Segan for Mutual Film Company and DreamWorks...
and Rio
Rio (film)
Rio, often promoted as Rio: The Movie, is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in which the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne...
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is a 2005 documentary film directed, produced, and edited by Judy Irving. It chronicles the relationship between Mark Bittner, an unemployed musician who is living rent-free in a cabin in Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California, and a flock of feral parrots ...
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
people of ancient Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
Flag of Dominica
The flag of Dominica was adopted on November 3, 1978, with some small changes having been made in 1981, 1988, and 1990.The flag, adopted in 1978, features the national bird emblem, the sisserou parrot, which also appears on the coat of arms granted July 21, 1961. This parrot is unique to Dominica...
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
Buddhism in China
Chinese Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China since ancient times. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.At the peak of the...
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
Psittacosis
In medicine , psittacosis — also known as parrot disease, parrot fever, and ornithosis — is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Chlamydophila psittaci and contracted from parrots, such as macaws, cockatiels and budgerigars, and pigeons, sparrows, ducks, hens, gulls and many...
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
's 1681 play The False Count.
Feral populations
Red Shining-parrot
The Maroon Shining Parrot or Red Shining-parrot is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It endemic to the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni in Fiji and was introduced to the islands of southern Tonga in prehistoric times. The species is sometimes considered conspecific with the Crimson...
s from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Threats and conservation
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
such as rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s and cats
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
Island tameness
Island tameness is the tendency of many populations and species of animals living on isolated islands to lose their wariness of potential predators, particularly of large animals. The term is partly synonymous with ecological naïvete, which also has a wider meaning referring to the loss of...
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
World Parrot Trust
-History:When the Trust was founded in 1989 at Paradise Park in Cornwall, UK, it was decided that the main objective was to promote the survival of all parrot species and the welfare of individual birds...
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
New Caledonian Lorikeet
The New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema is a potentially extinct lorikeet endemic to the Melanesian island of New Caledonia.-Description:...
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
External links
Parrots, also known as psittacines (icon), are bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s of the roughly 372 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in 86 genera that make up the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Psittaciformes, found in most tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
and subtropical
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
regions. The order is subdivided into three families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
: the Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
('true' parrots), the Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
(cockatoos) and the Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical
Pantropical
In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
as well. The greatest diversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of parrots is found in 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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. The plumage of cockatoos ranges from mostly white to mostly black, with a mobile crest of feathers on the tops of their heads. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollow
Tree hollow
A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. These are predominantly found in old trees, whether living or not...
s (or nest box
Nest box
A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...
es in captivity), and lay white eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
from which hatch altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
(helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity 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. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade
Wildlife trade
The international wildlife trade is a serious conservation problem, addressed by the United Nations' Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES, which currently has 175 member countries called Parties. The 15th meeting of the Parties took place in Doha,...
, as well as hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, habitat loss and competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
from invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species
Charismatic megafauna
Charismatic megafauna are large animal species with widespread popular appeal that environmental activists use to achieve conservation goals well beyond just those species...
have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s.
Origins and evolution
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...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
suggests that the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
may have evolved in Gondwanaland, centred in Australasia. The scarcity of parrots in the fossil record, however, presents difficulties in proving so.
A single 15 mm fragment from a large lower bill (UCMP 143274), found in deposits from the Lance Creek Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, had been thought to be the oldest parrot fossil and is presumed to have originated from the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
period, which makes it about 70 million years old. There have been studies, though, that establishes that this fossil is almost certainly not from a bird, but from a caenagnathid theropod or a non-avian
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
with a birdlike beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
.
It is now generally assumed that the Psittaciformes, or their common ancestors with a number of related bird orders, were present somewhere in the world around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction), some 65 mya (million years ago). If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
autapomorphies yet, but were generalised arboreal
Arboreal locomotion
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In every habitat in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may only scale trees occasionally, while others are exclusively arboreal. These habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals...
birds, roughly similar (though not necessarily closely related) to today's potoo
Potoo
The potoos are a family, Nyctibiidae of near passerine birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called Poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. There are seven species in one genus, Nyctibius, in tropical Central and South America.These are nocturnal insectivores which...
s or frogmouth
Frogmouth
The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds related to the nightjars. They are found from India across southern Asia to Australia.They are named for their large flattened hooked bills and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects. Their flight is weak.They rest horizontally on...
s (see also Palaeopsittacus below). Though these birds (Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae
Cypselomorphae is a clade of birds. It includes the living families and orders Caprimulgidae , Nyctibiidae , Apodiformes , as well as the Aegotheliformes whose distinctness was only recently realized...
) are a phylogenetically challenging group, they seem at least closer to the parrot ancestors than for example the modern aquatic birds (Aequornithes). The present-day combined evidence is widely in support of the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being "near passerine
Near passerine
Near passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod All near passerines are land birds...
s"; i.e. they almost certainly belong to the radiation of mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. They have been variously allied to groups such as falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
s, songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s, trogon
Trogon
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family contains 39 species in eight genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the mid-Eocene. They might constitute a member of the basal radiation of...
s, woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s, as well as "Coraciiformes
Coraciiformes
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colorful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...
", hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s and owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, and the puzzling mousebird
Mousebird
The mousebirds are a small group of birds which have no known close affinities to other groups, though they and the parrots and cockatoos may be closer to each other than to other birds. The mousebirds are therefore given order status as Coliiformes...
s. This seems to be by and large correct. Other proposed relationships, such as to pigeon
Columbiformes
Columbiformes are an avian order that includes the very widespread and successful doves and pigeons, classified in the family Columbidae, and the extinct Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire, long classified as a second family Raphidae. 313 species, found worldwide, comprise the Columbiformes order....
s, are considered more spurious today.
Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
is the origin of the first presumed parrot fossils, which date from about 50 million years ago (mya). The climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
The most extreme change in Earth surface conditions during the Cenozoic Era began at the temporal boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs . This event, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum , was associated with rapid global...
. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmark's Early Eocene Fur Formation
Fur Formation
Essentially the Fur Formation is defined as a clayey diatomite with a lage number of volcanic ash layers.The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the Limfjord region of Denmark from Silstrup via Mors and Fur to Ertebølle, and can be seen in many cliffs...
and dated to 54 mya (million years ago), was assigned to the Psittaciformes; it was described from a single humerus
Humerus
The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
.
However, the rather nondescript bone is not unequivocally psittaciform, and more recently it was pointed out that it may rather belong to a newly-discovered ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
of the genus genus Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites
Rhynchaeites is an extinct genus of Threskiornithidae related to modern ibises and has a single named species Rhynchaeites meselensis. It lived in today's Germany during the mid-Eocene and its remains were found in the famous Messel pit....
, whose fossil legs were found in the same deposits.
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
, starting around 50 mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of parrot-like birds have been found in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Some uncertainty remains, but on the whole it seems more likely that these are not direct ancestors of the modern parrots, but related lineages which evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and have since died out. These are probably not "missing link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
s" between ancestral and modern parrots, but rather psittaciform lineages that evolved parallel to true parrots and cockatoos and had their own peculiar autapomorphies:
- PsittacopesPsittacopesPsittacopes is an extinct genus of parrot from Middle Eocene. One species is recorded from Messel, Germany , and other three possible unnamed species are from London Clay, England.-References:* Mayr, G. '. Springer, 2009....
(Early/Middle Eocene of Geiseltal, Germany)—basal? - Serudaptus—pseudasturid or psittacid?
- Pseudasturidae (Halcyornithidae may be correct name)
- Pseudasturides – formerly Pseudastur
- Vastanavidae
- Vastanavis (Early Eocene of Vastan, India)
- Quercypsittidae
- QuercypsittaQuercypsittaQuercypsittais a genus of prehistoric bird from the Late Eocene Quercy phosphorites in France.Known from rather fragmentary remains , it was described as a parrot sufficiently distinct to be included in its own family, the Quercypsittidae...
(Late Eocene)
- Quercypsitta
The earliest records of modern parrots date to about 23–20 mya and are also from Europe. Subsequently, the fossil record—again mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type. The Southern Hemisphere does not have nearly as rich a fossil record for the period of interest as the Northern, and contains no known parrot-like remains earlier than the early to middle Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, around 20 mya. At this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil (as opposed to a parrot-like one), an upper jaw which is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s. A few modern genera are tentatively dated to a Miocene origin, but their unequivocal record stretches back only some 5 million years (see genus articles for more).
The named fossil genera of parrots are probably all in the Psittacidae or close to its ancestry:
- ArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacusArchaeopsittacus is a genus of prehistoric parrot. It is known from deposits of either Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age at Verreaux near Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France...
(Late Oligocene/Early Miocene) - Xenopsitta (Early Miocene of Czechia)
- Psittacidae gen. et spp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand)—several species
- Bavaripsitta (Middle Miocene of Steinberg, Germany)
- Psittacidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of France)—erroneously placed in Pararallus dispar, includes "Psittacus" lartetianus
Some Paleogene
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
fossils are not unequivocally accepted to be of psittaciforms:
- Palaeopsittacus (Early – Middle Eocene of NW Europe)—caprimulgiform (podargid?) or quercypsittid?
- "PrecursorPrecursor (bird)"Precursor" is a controversial prehistoric bird genus from the Early Eocene. It was established based on fossils found in England, e.g. in the famous London Clay deposits...
" (Early Eocene)—part of this apparent chimeraChimera (genetics)A chimera or chimaera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes involved in sexual reproduction. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic...
seems to be of a pseudasturid or psittacid - Pulchrapollia (Early Eocene)—includes "Primobucco" olsoni—psittaciform (pseudasturid or psittacid)?
Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved ~59 million years ago (range 66–51 million years ago) in Gondwanaland. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated ~50 million years ago (range 57–41 million years ago).
Phylogeny
Phylogenetic relationship between the three parrot families based on the available literature
Parrot phylogeny is in flux. The classifications as presented reflect the current status, which is disputed and therefore subject to change when new studies resolve some open questions. For that reason, this classification should be treated as preliminary. The Psittaciformes comprise three main lineages: Strigopidae, Psittacidae
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
and Cacatuidae
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
.
The Strigopidae were considered part of the Psittacidae, but recent studies place this group of New Zealand species at the base of the parrot tree next to the remaining members of the Psittacidae as well as all members of the Cacatuidae.
The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a movable head crest, a different arrangement of the carotid arteries, a gall bladder, differences in the skull bones, and lack the Dyck texture feathers which, in the Psittacidae, scatters light in such a way as to produce the vibrant colours of so many parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin
Psittacofulvin pigments cause the bright-red, orange, and yellow colours of parrots. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin resist feather-degrading Bacillus licheniformis better than white ones....
resist the feather-degrading bacterium
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus licheniformis is a bacterium commonly found in the soil. It is found on bird feathers, especially chest and back plumage, and most often in ground-dwelling birds and aquatic species ....
better than white ones.
Lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but studies using large amounts of DNA data place the group in the middle of the Psittacidae family, with as closest relatives the fig parrots (two of the three genera of the tribe Cyclopsittacini, subfamily Psittacinae) and the Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
(tribe Melopsittacini, subfamily Platycercinae).
Systematics
The following classification is a version in which several subfamilies are recognised. Molecular data (see above) suggests that several subfamilies might indeed be valid and perhaps even be elevated to family rank, but the arrangement of tribes in these is not well resolved.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
parrots.
- Tribe NestoriniNestor (genus)The genus Nestor is the only genus of the Nestorini tribe. Together with the Kakapo in the Strigopini tribe, they form the small parrot family Strigopidae. The genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham...
: 1 genus with only 2 living species, the KeaKeaThe Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
and KākāKakaThe New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
of the New Zealand region. - Tribe StrigopiniKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
: The flightless, critically endangered KakapoKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
of New Zealand.
Family Cacatuidae: Cockatoos
- Traditional subdivisions have been found incorrect in recent studies and no new subdivision has been proposed yet.
Family Psittacidae: true parrots
-Clade 1
- Tribe PsittaciniPsittaciniTribus Psittacini consists of Afrotropical parrots; there are 8 species in 2 genera. Traditionally, the Vasa parrots are also included in this tribe, but that inclusion is not supported by molecular studies. Several of these species have subspecies including the African Grey Parrot which has 2...
: Afrotropical parrots, about a dozen species in two genera. - Tribe AriniAriniArini may refer to:* Arini, the tribe of Neotropical parrots* Arini, a village in Găiceana Commune, Bacău County, Romania* Arini, a village in Măieruş Commune, Braşov County, Romania* Arini, Greece, a village in the Ilia prefecture, Greece...
: Neotropical parrots, about 160 species in some 30 genera. Probably 2 distinct lineages:
-Clade 2
- Tribe Psittrichadini: Three genera with four species.
-Clade 3
- Tribe Micropsittinae: Six species of pygmy parrot, all in a single genus.
- Tribe PsittaculiniPsittaculiniPsittaculini is a tribe of parrots of the Psittacidae family. The subdivisions within the tribe are controversial.-Tribe Psittaculini:* Genus Psittinus** Blue-rumped Parrot, Psittinus cyanurus* Genus Geoffroyus...
: Paleotropic psittaculine parrots, distributed from India to Australasia.
-Clade 4
- Tribe Platycercini: RosellaRosellaA rosella is one of five to eight species of colorful Australian parrots in the genus Platycercus. Platycercus means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the rosellas and other members of the broad-tailed parrot tribe...
s and relatives; around 20 species in eight genera.
-Clade 5
- Tribe Melopsittacini: one genus with one species, the BudgerigarBudgerigarThe Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
. - Tribe Lorini: Around a dozen genera with some 50 species of lorikeets and lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific.
- Tribe Cyclopsittacini: fig parrots, two genera, all from New Guinea or nearby.
-Clade 6
- Unnamed Tribe: Genera Loriculus, Agapornis and Bolbopsittacus.
Other lists
- A list of all parrots sortable by common or binomial name, about 350 speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 generaGenusIn 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...
- Taxonomic list of true parrots which provides the sequence of Psittacidae genera and species following a traditional two-subfamily approach, as in the taxobox above, about 330 species.
- List of Strigopidae
- Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, 21 species in 7 genera
- List of macaws
- List of Amazon parrots
- List of Aratinga parakeets
Morphology
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
, at 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) in length, and the Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, at 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) in weight. Among the families, the three Strigopidae species are all large parrots, and the cockatoos tend to be large birds as well. The Psittacidae parrots are far more variable, ranging the full spectrum of sizes shown by the family.
The most obvious physical characteristic is the strong, curved, broad bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
. The upper mandible is prominent, curves downward, and comes to a point. It is not fused to the skull, which allows it to move independently, and contributes to the tremendous biting pressure the birds are able to exert. The lower mandible is shorter, with a sharp, upward-facing cutting edge, which moves against the flat portion of the upper mandible in an anvil-like fashion. There are touch receptors along the inner edges of the kerantinised
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...
bill, which are collectively known as the 'bill tip organ
Bill tip organ
The 'bill tip organ' is a structure found near the tip of the bill in several types of birds that forage particularly by probing. This consists of pits in the bill surface which in the living bird is occupied by cells that sense pressure changes...
', allowing for highly dextrous manipulations. Seed-eating parrots have a strong tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
(containing similar touch receptors to those in the bill tip organ), which helps to manipulate seeds or position nuts in the bill so that the mandibles can apply an appropriate cracking force. The head is large, with eyes positioned high and laterally in the skull, so the visual field of parrots are unlike any other birds. Without turning its head, a parrot can see from just below its bill tip, all above its head, and to quite far behind its head. Parrots also have quite a wide frontal binocular field for a bird, although this is nowhere near as large as primate binocular visual fields.
Parrots have strong zygodactyl feet with sharp, elongated claws, which are used for climbing and swinging. Most species are capable of using their feet to manipulate food and other objects with a high degree of dexterity, in a similar manner to a human using his hands. A study conducted with Australian parrots has demonstrated that they exhibit "handedness
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...
"—that is a distinct preference with regards to the foot used to pick up food, with adult parrots being almost exclusively "left-footed" or "right footed", and with the prevalence of each preference within the population varying from species to species.
Cockatoo species have a mobile crest of feathers on the top of their heads which can be raised for display, and retracted. No other parrots can do so, but the Pacific lorikeets in the genera Vini
Vini
Vini is a genus of birds endemic to the islands of the tropical Pacific. There are five extant species of these small lorikeets ranging from eastern Fiji through Samoa, French Polynesia, and as far east as Henderson Island. All members of the genus have exceptional bright plumage, particularly the...
and Phigys are able to ruffle the feathers of the crown and nape and the Red-fan Parrot
Red-fan Parrot
The Red-fan Parrot , also known as the Hawk-headed Parrot, is an unusual New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest...
(or Hawk-headed Parrot) has a prominent feather neck frill
Neck frill
Neck frill is the popular term for the relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles with either a bony support such as those present on the skulls of dinosaurs of the suborder Marginocephalia or a cartilaginous one as in the Frill-necked Lizard...
which can be raised and lowered at will. The predominant colour of plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
in parrots is green, though most species have some red or another colour in small quantities. Cockatoos are the main exception to this, having lost the green and blue plumage colours in their evolutionary history they are now predominately black or white with some red, pink or yellow. Strong sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in plumage is not typical amongst the parrots, with some notable exceptions, the most striking being the Eclectus Parrot
Eclectus Parrot
The Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus, is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia and the Maluku Islands...
.
Distribution and habitat
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, 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...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Some Caribbean and Pacific islands are home to endemic species. By far the greatest number of parrot species come from Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
and South America. The lories and lorikeets range from Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the north to Australia and across the Pacific as far as French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, with the greatest diversity being found in and around New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The subfamily Arinae encompasses all the Neotropical parrots, including the Amazons, macaws and conures, and ranges from northern 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 Bahamas to Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
in the southern tip of South America. The pygmy parrots, subfamily Micropsittinae, form a small genus restricted to New Guinea. The subfamily Nestorinae contains three living species of aberrant parrots from New Zealand. The broad-tailed parrots, subfamily Platycercinae, are restricted to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands as far eastwards as Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. The final true parrot subfamily, Psittacinae, includes a range of species from Australia and New Guinea to South Asia and Africa. The centre of cockatoo biodiversity is Australia and New Guinea, although some species reach the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
(and one formerly occurred in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
), Wallacea
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and...
and the Philippines.
Several parrots inhabit the cool, temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
regions of South America and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. One, the Carolina Parakeet
Carolina Parakeet
The Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It was found from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. It was the only species at the time classified in the genus Conuropsis...
, lived in temperate North America, but was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. Many parrots have been introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
to areas with temperate climates, and have established stable populations in parts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
), the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
While a few parrots are wholly sedentary or fully migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, most fall somewhere between the two extremes, making poorly understood regional movements, with some adopting an entirely nomadic lifestyle.
Behaviour
There are numerous difficulties in studying wild parrots, as they are difficult to catch and once caught they are difficult to mark. Most wild bird studies rely on bandingBird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
or wing tagging, but parrots will chew off such attachments. Parrots also tend to range widely and consequently there are many gaps in knowledge of their behaviour.
Parrots have a strong, direct flight. Most species spend much of their time perched or climbing in tree canopies. They often use their bills for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. On the ground parrots often walk with a rolling gait.
Diet
The diet
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
of parrots consists of seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, 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,...
, nectar, pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
, bud
Bud
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have...
s, and sometimes arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and other animal prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of the large and powerful bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
except the Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot also known as the Vulturine Parrot , is the only member of its genus, and its genus is the only member of the tribe Psittrichadini...
employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...
; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
s to protect them, parrots are careful to remove seed coats and other fruit parts which are chemically well defended, prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa, and Papua New Guinea consume clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
which both releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s and Swift Parrot
Swift Parrot
The Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
s with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available.
In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged Parakeet
Golden-winged Parakeet
The Golden-winged Parakeet is a species of bird in the Psittacidae family, the true parrots.It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, , and Venezuela in the eastern Amazon Basin and the lower Orinoco River region of eastern Venezuela.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical...
s prey on water snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, and famously the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
s of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
will kill juvenile petrels
Procellariidae
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes , which also includes the albatrosses, the storm-petrels, and the diving petrels.The procellariids are...
and even attack and indirectly kill adult sheep. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet
Antipodes Island Parakeet
The Antipodes Parakeet or Antipodes Island Parakeet is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, one of two parrot species found on the islands. It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus at 30 cm long...
, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm Petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoo
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s and the Kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
will excavate branches and wood to obtain grubs
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
.
Breeding
Although there are a few exceptions, parrots are monogamous breeders which nest in cavities and hold no territories
Territory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
other than their nesting sites. The pair bonds of the parrots and cockatoos are strong and a pair will remain close even during the non-breeding season, even if they join larger flocks. As with many birds, pair bond formation is preceded by courtship displays; these are relatively simple in the case of cockatoos. In Psittacidae parrots common breeding displays, usually undertaken by the male, include slow deliberate steps known as a "parade" or "stately walk" and the "eye-blaze", where the pupil of the eye constricts to reveal the edge of the iris. Allopreening is used by the pair to help maintain the bond. Cooperative breeding
Helpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
, where birds other than the breeding pair help the pair raise the young and is common in some bird families, is extremely rare in parrots, and has only unambiguously been demonstrated in the Golden Parakeet (which may also exhibit polyamorous
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
, or group breeding, behaviour with multiple females contributing to the clutch).
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
and five species of Agapornis lovebird build nests in trees, and three Australian and New Zealand ground parrots nest on the ground. All other parrots and cockatoos nest in cavities, either tree hollows or cavities dug into cliffs, banks or the ground. The use of holes in cliffs is more common in the Americas. Many species will use termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
nests, possibly to reduce the conspicuousness of the nesting site or to create a favourable microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
. In most cases both parents will participate in the nest excavation. The length of the burrow varies with species, but is usually between 0.5–2 m in length. The nests of cockatoos are often lined with sticks, wood chips and other plant material. In the larger species of parrot and cockatoo the availability of nesting hollows may be limited, leading to intense competition for them both within the species and between species, as well as with other bird families. The intensity of this competition can limit breeding success in some cases. Some species are colonial
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...
, with the Burrowing Parrot nesting in colonies up to 70,000 strong. Coloniality is not as common in parrots as might be expected, possibly because most species adopt old cavities rather than excavate their own.
The eggs of parrots are white. In most species the female undertakes all the incubation
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
, although incubation is shared in cockatoos, the Blue Lorikeet
Blue Lorikeet
The Blue Lorikeet is a small lorikeet from French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. It is also known as the Tahiti Lorikieet, Violet Lorikeet, Tahitian Lory, Blue Lory, Nunbird, and the Indigo Lory...
, and the Vernal Hanging Parrot
Vernal Hanging Parrot
The Vernal Hanging Parrot is a small parrot which is a resident breeder from India , Nepal and some other areas of Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, it is replaced by the very similar endemic Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, . It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit,...
. The female remains in the nest for almost all of the incubation period and is fed both by the male and during short breaks. Incubation varies from 17 to 35 days, with larger species having longer incubation periods. The newly born young are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
, either lacking feathers or with sparse white down
Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding,...
. The young spend anything from three weeks to four months in the nest, depending on species, and may receive parental care for several months thereafter.
As typical of K-selected species, the macaws and other larger parrot species have low reproductive rates. They require several years to reach maturity, produce one or very few young per year, and do not necessarily breed every year.
Intelligence and learning
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...
have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences (see Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
and N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
). Along with crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s, raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s, and jay
Jay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s (family Corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
), parrots are considered the most intelligent of birds. The brain-to body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. One argument against the supposed intelligent capabilities of bird species is that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
, which is the part of the brain considered to be the main area of intelligence in other animals. However, birds use a different part of the brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum / hyperstriatum ventrale
High vocal center
The HVC is a nucleus in the brain of the songbirds necessary for both the learning and the production of bird song...
, as the seat of their intelligence. Not surprisingly, research has shown that these species tend to have the largest hyperstriata, and Dr Harvey J. Karten, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, who studied bird physiology, has discovered that the lower part of the avian brain is functionally similar to that in humans. Not only have parrots demonstrated intelligence through scientific testing of their language-using ability, but some species of parrot such as the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
are also highly skilled at using tools and solving puzzles.
Learning in early life is apparently important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. Social interactions are often practised with siblings, and in several species creches are formed with several broods, and these as well are important for learning social skills. Foraging behaviour is generally learnt from parents, and can be a very protracted affair. Supra-generalists and specialists are generally independent of their parents much quicker than partly specialised species which may have to learn skills over a long period of time as various resources become seasonally available. Play forms a large part of learning in parrots; it can be solitary, and related to motor skills, or social. Species may engage in play fights or wild flights to practice predator evasion. An absence of stimuli can retard the development of young birds, as demonstrated by a group of Vasa Parrot
Vasa parrot
The vasa parrots are two species of parrot which are endemic to Madagascar and other islands in the western Indian Ocean.- Taxonomy :There are two species and several subspecies:Coracopsis, Wagler 1832...
s kept in tiny cages with domesticated chickens from the age of 3 months; at 9 months these birds still behaved in the same way as 3 month olds, but had adopted some chicken behaviour. In a similar fashion captive birds in zoo collections or pets can, if deprived of stimuli, develop stereotyped behaviours
Stereotypy
A stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance, found in people with mental retardation, autism spectrum disorders, tardive dyskinesia and stereotypic movement disorder. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing,...
and harmful behaviours like self plucking. Aviculturists working with parrots have identified the need for environmental enrichment to keep parrots stimulated.
Sound imitation and speech
Many parrots can imitate human speech or other sounds. A study by Irene PepperbergIrene Pepperberg
Irene Maxine Pepperberg is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. She is an adjunct professor of psychology at Brandeis University and a lecturer at Harvard University...
suggested a high learning ability in an 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...
named Alex
Alex (parrot)
Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular pet shop when he was about one year old...
. Alex was trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" with over 80% accuracy. N'kisi
N'kisi
N'kisi is an African Grey Parrot who is thought to exhibit advanced English usage skills and other abilities.-Accomplishments:According to news reports and websites, as of January 2004 N'kisi had a vocabulary of about 950 words and used them in context, frequently in complete sentences, had...
, another African grey, has been shown to have a vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, and has displayed an ability to invent as well as use words in context and in the correct tense.
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. African Grey Parrots of all subspecies are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to the present. In the Masnavi
Masnavi
The Masnavi, Masnavi-I Ma'navi or Mesnevi , also written Mathnawi, Ma'navi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature...
, a writing by Rumi of Persia, AD 1250, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
Although most parrot species are able to imitate, some of the Amazon parrot
Amazon parrot
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....
s are generally regarded as the next-best imitators and speakers of the parrot world. The question of why birds imitate remains open, but those that do often score very high on tests designed to measure problem solving ability. Wild African Grey Parrots have been observed imitating other birds. Most other wild parrots have not been observed imitating other species.
Co-operate
The journal Animal CognitionAnimal cognition
Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
stated that some birds preferred to work alone, while others like to work together as with African Grey Parrots. With two parrots, they know the order of tasks or when they should do something together at once, but they have trouble to exchanging roles. With three parrots, one parrot usually prefers to co-operate with one of the other two, but all of them are co-operating together to solve the task.
Relationship with humans
Humans and parrots have a complicated relationship. Economically they can be beneficial to communities as sources of income from the pet trade and are highly marketable tourism draws and symbols. But some species are also economically important pests, particularly some cockatoo species in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Some parrots have also benefited from human changes to the environment in some instances, and have expanded their ranges alongside agricultural activity, but many species have declined as well.
There exist a number of careers and professions devoted to parrots. Zoos and aquariums employ keepers to care for and shape the behaviour of parrots. Some veterinarians who specialise in avian medicine will treat parrots exclusively. Biologists study parrot populations in the wild and help to conserve wild populations. Aviculturalists breed and sell parrots for the pet trade.
Tens of millions of parrots have been removed from the wild, and parrots have been traded in greater numbers and for far longer than any other group of wild animals. Many parrot species are still threatened by this trade as well as habitat loss, predation by introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, and hunting for food or feathers. Some parrot species are agricultural pests, eating fruits, grains, and other crops, but parrots can also benefit economies through birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
based ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
.
Pets
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 due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colours, and ability to imitate human voices. The domesticated Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
, a small parrot, is the most popular of all pet bird species. In 1992 the newspaper USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
published that there were 11 million pet birds in the United States alone, many of them parrots. Europeans kept birds matching the description of the Rose-ringed Parakeet
Rose-ringed Parakeet
The Rose-ringed Parakeet , also known as the Ringnecked Parakeet, is a gregarious tropical parakeet species that has an extremely large range. Since the trend of the population appears to be increasing, the species has been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN in 2009.Rose-ringed parakeets are...
(or called the ring-necked parrot), documented particularly in a first century account by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. As they have been prized for thousands of years for their beauty and ability to talk, they have also often been misunderstood. For example, author Wolfgang de Grahl discusses in his 1987 book "The Grey Parrot," that some importers allowed parrots to drink only coffee while they were being shipped by boat considering pure water to be detrimental and believing that their actions would increase survival rates during shipping. (Nowadays it is commonly accepted that the caffeine in coffee is toxic to birds).
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild caught or be captive bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept 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 include conures, 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, Amazons
Amazon parrot
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....
, cockatoos, African Greys
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...
, lovebirds, cockatiel
Cockatiel
The Cockatiel , also known as the Quarrion and the Weiro, is the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia. They are prized as a household pet and companion parrot throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed...
s, Budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
s, Eclectus
Eclectus
The parrot genus Eclectus consists of two species, the extant Eclectus Parrot and the extinct Oceanic Eclectus Parrot ....
, Caiques, parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, 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...
and Poicephalus
Poicephalus
The genus Poicephalus comprises nine species of parrots native to various regions of the Afrotropic ecozone, including Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal in the west, Ethiopia in the east, and to Cape Horn in the south...
. Species vary in their temperament, noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs, although how a parrot has been raised usually greatly affects its personality.
Parrots can make excellent companion animals, and can form close, affectionate bonds with their owners. However they invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they will be tame and trusting. However, parrots are not low maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
Some large parrot species, including large cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, have very long lifespans, with 80 years being reported and record ages of over one hundred. Small parrots, such as lovebird
Lovebird
A Lovebird is one of nine species of the genus Agapornis . They are a social and affectionate small parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, while the Grey-headed Lovebird is native to Madagascar...
s, hanging parrot
Hanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
s, and budgies
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
have shorter life spans of up to 15–20 years. Some parrot species can be quite loud, and many of the larger parrots can be destructive and require a very large cage, and a regular supply of new toys, branches, or other items to chew up. The intelligence of parrots means they are quick to learn tricks and other behaviours—both good and bad—that will get them what they want, such as attention or treats.
The popularity, longevity, and intelligence of many of the larger kinds of pet parrot has led to many birds needing to be re-homed during the course of their long lifespans. A common problem is that large parrots which are cuddly and gentle as juveniles will mature into intelligent, complex, often demanding adults that can outlive their owners. Due to these problems, and the fact that homeless parrots are not euthanised like dogs and cats, parrot adoption centres and sanctuaries are becoming more common.
Zoos
Trade
The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: "The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA."
The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva
Tony Silva
Tony Silva is an American ornithologist and aviculturist that has authored several books on parrots, hundreds of articles and was curator of birds at Tenerife's Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world...
case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
's Loro Parque
Loro Parque
Loro Parque is a zoo located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife, Spain where it houses an extensive and diverse reserve of animal and plant species...
(Europe's largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
s. (Such birds command a very high price). The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds.
Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
, and protects other nations' birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the U.S. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced).
Culture
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
's Dead Parrot Sketch millennia later, parrots have existed in the consciousness of many cultures. Recent books about parrots in human culture include Parrot Culture.
In ancient times and currently parrot feathers have been used in ceremonies, and for decoration. The "idea" of the parrot has been used to represent the human condition in medieval literature
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
such as the bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
. They also have a long history as pets.
In Polynesian
Polynesian mythology
Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...
legend as current in the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, the hero Laka
Laka
In Hawaiian mythology, Laka is the name of a popular hero from Polynesian mythology....
/Aka is mentioned as having undertaken a long and dangerous voyage to Aotona in what are now the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
, to obtain the highly prized feathers of a red parrot as gifts for his son and daughter. On the voyage a hundred out of his 140 rowers died of hunger on their way, but the survivors reached Aotona and captured enough parrots to fill 140 bags with their feathers. By at least some versions, the feathers were plucked off living parrots without killing them.
Currently parrots feature in many media. There are magazines devoted to parrots as pets, and to the conservation of parrots. Fictional films include Paulie
Paulie
Paulie is a 1998 family film about a talking parrot named "Paulie". It was directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, and it was produced by Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, and Allyson Lyon Segan for Mutual Film Company and DreamWorks...
and Rio
Rio (film)
Rio, often promoted as Rio: The Movie, is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in which the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne...
, and documentaries include The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is a 2005 documentary film directed, produced, and edited by Judy Irving. It chronicles the relationship between Mark Bittner, an unemployed musician who is living rent-free in a cabin in Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California, and a flock of feral parrots ...
.
Parrots have also been considered sacred. The Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
people of ancient Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
worshipped birds and often depicted parrots in their art.
Parrots are used as symbols of nations and nationalism. A parrot is found on the flag of Dominica
Flag of Dominica
The flag of Dominica was adopted on November 3, 1978, with some small changes having been made in 1981, 1988, and 1990.The flag, adopted in 1978, features the national bird emblem, the sisserou parrot, which also appears on the coat of arms granted July 21, 1961. This parrot is unique to Dominica...
. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean nation.
Parrots are popular in Buddhist scripture and there are many writings about them. For example, Amitābha
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
once changed itself into a parrot to aid in converting people. Another old story tells how after a forest caught fire, the parrot was so concerned it carried water to try and put out the flames. The ruler of heaven was so moved upon seeing the parrot's act, that he sent rain to put out the fire. In Chinese Buddhist
Buddhism in China
Chinese Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China since ancient times. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.At the peak of the...
iconography, a parrot is sometimes depicted hovering on the upper right side Guan Yin clasping a pearl or prayer beads in its beak.
Sayings about parrots colour the modern English language. The verb "parroting" can be found in the dictionary, and means "to repeat by rote." There are also clichés such as the British saying "sick as a parrot"; although this refers to extreme disappointment rather than illness, it may originate from the disease of psittacosis
Psittacosis
In medicine , psittacosis — also known as parrot disease, parrot fever, and ornithosis — is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Chlamydophila psittaci and contracted from parrots, such as macaws, cockatiels and budgerigars, and pigeons, sparrows, ducks, hens, gulls and many...
which can be passed to humans. The first occurrence of a related expression is in Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
's 1681 play The False Count.
Feral populations
Red Shining-parrot
The Maroon Shining Parrot or Red Shining-parrot is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It endemic to the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni in Fiji and was introduced to the islands of southern Tonga in prehistoric times. The species is sometimes considered conspecific with the Crimson...
s from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
which established a population on the islands of southern Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
. These introductions were prehistoric and Red-shining Parrots were recorded in Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. Escapees first began breeding in cities in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the 1950s (with unproven earlier claims dating back to the 1920s in Texas and Florida). They have proved surprisingly hardy in adapting to conditions in Europe and North America. They sometimes even multiply to the point of becoming a nuisance or pest, and a threat to local ecosystems, and control measures have been used on some feral populations.
Threats and conservation
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
or worse by the IUCN. There are several reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss and degradation, hunting and, for certain species, the wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted because, in some areas, they are (or have been) hunted for food and feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeet
The Monk Parakeet, also known as the Quaker Parrot, is a species of parrot, in most treatments the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America...
s (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundreds of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population.
Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed parrots. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to many species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is a particular problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where trees suitable for nesting need to be centuries old. Many parrots occur only on islands and are vulnerable to introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
such as rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s and cats
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours
Island tameness
Island tameness is the tendency of many populations and species of animals living on isolated islands to lose their wariness of potential predators, particularly of large animals. The term is partly synonymous with ecological naïvete, which also has a wider meaning referring to the loss of...
needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species. Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to unpredictable events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the conservation of wild parrot populations. One of the largest is the World Parrot Trust
World Parrot Trust
-History:When the Trust was founded in 1989 at Paradise Park in Cornwall, UK, it was decided that the main objective was to promote the survival of all parrot species and the welfare of individual birds...
, an international organisation. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships, often from pet parrot owners. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs will raise money to donate to a conservation cause. Zoo and wildlife centres usually provide public education, to change habits that cause damage to wild populations. Recent conservation measures to conserve the habitats of some of the high-profile charismatic parrot species has also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the ecosystem. A popular attraction that many zoos employ is a feeding station for lories and lorikeets, where visitors feed small parrots with cups of liquid food. This is usually done in association with educational signs and lectures.
Several projects aimed specifically at parrot conservation have met with success. Translocation of vulnerable Kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, followed by intensive management and supplementary feeding, has increased the population from 50 individuals to 123. In New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
the Ouvea Parakeet was threatened by trapping for the pet trade and loss of habitat. Community based conservation, which eliminated the threat of poaching, has allowed the population to increase from around 600 birds in 1993 to over 2000 birds in 2009.
At present the IUCN recognises 19 species of parrot as extinct since 1600 (the date used to denote modern extinctions). This does not include species like the New Caledonian Lorikeet
New Caledonian Lorikeet
The New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema is a potentially extinct lorikeet endemic to the Melanesian island of New Caledonia.-Description:...
which has not been officially seen for 100 years yet is still listed as critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
.
Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continuing threats from international trade led CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.
External links
- City Parrot: urban parrots & conservation
- World Parrot Trust — Saving Parrots Worldwide
- Parrots, Macaws and Allies
- Parrot videos on the Internet Bird Collection