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Parrot

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

           iParrots and Cockatoos
   Scarlet Macaw Ara macao
   Scarlet Macaw Ara macao
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Psittaciformes
            Wagler, 1830

                                  Families

   Cacatuidae
   Psittacidae

   Parrots or Psittacines ( pronounced /ˈsɪtəˌsaɪnz/ , ; order
   Psittaciformes) includes about 353 species of bird which are generally
   grouped into two families: the Cacatuidae (also called cockatoos), and
   the Psittacidae (also called true parrots).

   All members of the order have a characteristic curved beak shape with
   the upper mandible having slight mobility in the joint with the skull
   and a generally erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl, having the
   four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two back.

   Parrots can be found in most of the warm parts of the world, including
   India, southeast Asia and west Africa, with one species – now extinct –
   in the United States (the Carolina Parakeet). By far the greatest
   number of parrot species, however, come from Australasia, South America
   and Central America.

Evolution and systematics

Origins

   In general, an area which has, relative to other areas, a great
   concentration of different species within a particular family is likely
   to be the original ancestral home of that family. The diversity of
   Psittaciformes in South America and Australasia suggests that the order
   has a Gondwanian origin. The parrot family's fossil record, however, is
   sparse and their origin remains a matter of informed speculation rather
   than fact.

   The earliest known record of parrot-like birds dates to the late
   Cretaceous about 70 million years ago. A single 15 mm fragment from a
   lower bill found in Wyoming is similar to that of a modern lorikeet. It
   is not clear if this find should be classified as a parrot or not.

   Europe is the site of more extensive records from the Eocene (58 to 36
   million years ago). 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 true ancestors
   of the modern parrots, but are a related group which evolved in the
   Northern Hemisphere but have since died out.

   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
   million years ago. 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 a modern white cockatoo .

Phylogeny

   Extreme closeup of the feathers of a baby Yellow-headed Parrot. The
   blue component of the green coloration is due to light scattering while
   the yellow is due to pigment.
   Enlarge
   Extreme closeup of the feathers of a baby Yellow-headed Parrot. The
   blue component of the green coloration is due to light scattering while
   the yellow is due to pigment.

   The phylogeny of the parrots is still under investigation, and no
   definite answers are available for entire sections. The classifications
   as presented reflects the current status, and are subject to change
   when new studies resolve some of the open questions. For that reason,
   this classification should be treated as preliminary.

   It is unquestionable that the Psittaciformes consist of 2 major
   lineages of family rank: the true parrots (Psittacidae) and the
   cockatoos (Cacatuidae). The Cacatuidae are quite distinct, having a
   movable headcrest, 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.

   While understanding of the relationships between subgroups of true
   parrots - e.g. the one containing the Grey Parrot vs. the relatives of
   the budgerigar - are rather well resolved and knowledge of
   relationships between species has much improved in the last years, it
   is still a matter of dispute whether the distinct lineages of true
   parrots should be considered subfamilies or tribes. Due to parrot
   fossils and molecular divergence date estimates providing insufficient
   data to properly resolve when exactly the major diversification and
   divergence periods in parrot evolution took place, i.e., how distinct
   the various lineages are really from each other, or how fast and
   radically they were changed by evolution.

   The matter hinges much upon the status of the lorikeets, which a number
   of authorities regard as a third family Loriidae rather than part of
   the Psittacidae (e.g. Forshaw & Cooper, 1989). Others lump all
   Psittaciformes into one giant family. The majority view, however, is
   that they are distinct enough to warrant subfamily status, but some
   consider the quite pronounced differences not evidence of a uniquely
   deep evolutionary split but rather not different quantitatively from
   the differences between neotropical and Australian parakeets, for
   example. Biogeography, however, suggests that the lorikeets are best
   considered a uniquely distinct lineage, not as divergent as cockatoos,
   but still standing apart from the remaining psittacines.
   Amazon parrot
   Enlarge
   Amazon parrot

Systematics

     * A list of all parrots by common name in alphabetical order.

     * Taxonomic list of Cacatuidae species, some 20 species in 6 genera

     * This list provides the taxonomic sequence of Psittacidae genera and
       species following a two-subfamily approach, with the distinct
       radiations of true parrots considered tribes,

     * Below is a version of the latter in which more subfamilies are
       recognized. Molecular data suggests that several subfamilies might
       indeed be valid, but arrangement of tribes in these is different.

   Family Psittacidae: true parrots, over 300 species
     * Subfamily Loriinae: 12 genera with 53 species of lorikeets and
       lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia,
       and the islands of the south Pacific.
     * Subfamily Nestorinae: 3 species in 1 genus, the Kea and Kākā of New
       Zealand and the extinct Norfolk Island Kaka
     * Subfamily Strigopinae: Kakapo
     * Subfamily Micropsittinae: 6 species of pygmy parrot, all in a
       single genus
     * Subfamily Psittacinae
          + Tribe Psittacini: Afrotropical parrots, 12 species in 3 genera
          + Tribe Psittrichadini: Pesquet's Parrot
          + Tribe Cyclopsittacini: fig parrots, 6 species in 3 genera, all
            from New Guinea or nearby
          + Tribe Polytelini: three genera.
          + Tribe Psittaculini: Paleotropic psittaculine parrots, 66
            species in 12 genera, distributed from India to Australasia
     * Subfamily Platycercinae: 28 species in 11 genera.
          + Tribe Platycercini: 18 species in 8 genera, including the
            rosellas.
          + Tribe Melopsittacini: one genus with one species, the
            Budgerigar.
          + Tribe Neophemini: two small genera of parrots.
          + Tribe Pezoporini: one genus of parrots with two species.
     * Subfamily Arinae: Neotropical parrots, 148 species in 30 genera

Parrots and humans

Parrots as vulnerable or endangered species

   The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (
   CITES) has made the sale of all wild caught parrot species illegal; the
   highly endangered species are on on the CITES appendix 1 list and all
   of the other parrot species are on the CITES appendix 2 list of
   vunerable species.

Parrots as pets

   Swainson's Rainbow Lorikeet and a Cockatiel.
   Enlarge
   Swainson's Rainbow Lorikeet and a Cockatiel.

   Parrots are kept as pets, particularly conures, macaws, Amazons,
   cockatoos, African Greys, lovebirds, Cockatiels, Budgerigars and
   parakeets, because of their rich and varied colouration. Sometimes the
   wings of such birds are clipped, but many people keep flighted pet
   parrots. Some parrot species, including cockatoos, Amazon parrots,
   African Grey Parrots and the larger macaws, have very long life-spans
   of up to 80 years.

   In 2004, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper carried the story of a female
   macaw supposedly born in 1899, and subsequently a pet of Winston
   Churchill during the World War; the aged parrot, called Charlie, was
   reputed to curse the Nazis and Adolf Hitler . Subsequent research
   strongly suggested that the parrot had never belonged to Winston
   Churchill, although Charlie's great age was not in question.

   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. The scale of the problem can be appreciated in the Tony
   Silva case of 1996, in which a world-renowned parrot expert and former
   director at Tenerife's Loro Parque (Europe's largest parrot park) was
   jailed in the US for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling
   Hyacinth Macaws 1. The case rocked conservationist and ornithological
   circles, leading to calls for greater protection and control over trade
   in the birds. Loro Parque has since become well known for parrot
   conservation work.

   In some wildlife centers, larger parrot species such as macaws are used
   in bird displays.

Sound imitation and speech

   Many species can imitate human speech or other sounds, and the results
   of a study by Irene Pepperberg suggest a high learning ability in an
   African Grey Parrot named Alex. Alex has been 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. Other
   scholars claim that parrots are only repeating words with no idea of
   their meanings and point to Pepperberg's results as being nothing but
   an expression of classical conditioning, or possibly a manifestation of
   the Clever Hans effect.

Feral populations

   Escaped parrots of several species 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 a minor pest and a
   threat to local ecosystems; this is now occurring in Spain, in
   Barcelona and Tenerife.

   A sizeable population of naturalized Rose-ringed Parakeets (Psittacula
   krameri) exists in and around cities in England, the Netherlands,
   Belgium and western and southern Germany. They are believed (and in
   some cases documented) to have descended from escaped or released pets.
   The largest UK roost of these is thought to be in Esher, Surrey,
   numbering several thousand.

   Often flocking with the naturalized P. krameri populations in Belgium
   and England are smaller populations of Alexandrine Parakeets
   (Psittacula eupatria).

   There are also populations of the Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)
   which have established themselves in many areas of the United States
   and Spain.

   In the United Stares are furthermore found feral some Rose-ringed
   Parakeets, some Brotogeris ssp. (mainly B. versicolurus ( Canary-winged
   Parakeet a.k.a. White-winged Parrot) and/or B. chiriri (
   Yellow-chevroned Parakeet/Parrot) in a few areas. A population of
   naturalized Rose-collared aka Peach-faced Lovebirds (Agapornis
   roseicollis) have naturalized themselves in Tucson, Arizona.

   Several species, including Red-lored Parrots (Amazona autumnalis),
   Lilac-crowned Parrots (Amazona finschi), and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets
   (Brotogeris chiriri), have become well established in Southern
   California and a population of mainly Red-masked or Cherry-headed
   Parakeet/Conure, a female Mitred Parakeet/Conure, and hybrids of those
   species lives in the surrounding of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.

   Populations of feral Quaker parrots can also be found around St.
   Petersburg, Florida.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
