True parrot

The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the family Psittacidae, one of the three superfamilies in the biological order Psittaciformes (parrots). The others superfamilies are the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos) and New Zealand Strigopoidea which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots. True parrots are more widespread than cockatoos, with species in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and eastwards across the Pacific Ocean as far as Polynesia.

Overview
The true parrot family formerly were often considered to contain two subfamilies, the Psittacinae (typical parrots and allies) and the Loriinae (lories and lorikeets). However, today these two groups are ascribed full family status, being called Psittacidae and Loriidae.

Like most parrots the Psittacidae are primarily seed eaters. There is some variation in the diet of individual species, with fruits, nuts, leaves and even insects and other animal prey being taken on occasion by some species. The lorikeets are predominately nectar feeders; many other parrots will drink nectar as well. Most Psittacidae are cavity nesting birds which form monogamous pair bonds.

They have a beak with a characteristic curved shape, the jaw with a mobility slightly higher than where it connects with the skull, and a generally upright position. They also have a large cranial capacity and are one of the most intelligent bird groups. They live in tropical areas, are good fliers and skillful climbers on branches of trees.

The Parrots are distributed throughout the Southern Hemisphere on the planet, covering many different habitats, from the humid tropical forests to deserts of the inside of Australia, including India, the Southeast Asia and West Africa, and one species, now extinct, in the United States (the Carolina parakeet). However, the larger populations are native to Australasia, South America and Central America.

Some species can imitate the human voice and other sounds, although they do not have vocal cords - instead possessing a vocal organ at the base of the trachea known as the syrinx.

Many species are defined as endangered species, although besides some not globally threatened species, locally are extinct in great available areas.

This condition is mainly due to permanent alteration of their habitat: depletion, destruction and fragmentation, hunting for being considered a threat to crops and because they have historically suffered the capture of chicks and juveniles from communal nest to be sold as pets. But there are a number of different threats: To make space for more agricultural land, large areas of forest are cut down, taking away its habitat. Wild animals populations are stealing, killing and poaching illegally taking wild animals contrarily to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Hunting or capture includes the destruction of nests, egg collecting and capturing young. This violations of hunting laws and regulations are punished by law in these countries, but in practice the actions go unpunished. This combination of factors extirpated the species from most of its range from the early years of the 20th century. Of the animals removed from the wild to be sold, very few survive during capture and transport, and those who fail to do so, usually can not resist and they die by the poor conditions of captivity, poor diet and stress. 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 ecosystems.

The researcher Irene Pepperberg has published work on the learning capacity of an African grey parrot named Alex, that was trained to use words in order to identify objects, describing, counting, and even answer complex questions, such as "How many red squares are there?" (with an accuracy of 80%). However, some researchers argue that parrots merely repeat words without thought of meaning.

Phylogeny
Taxonomy is based on Boyd III:

Family Psittacidae
 * Subfamily Psittacinae: Two African genera, Grey Parrot and Poicephalus
 * Subfamily Arinae
 * Bolborhynchini


 * Brotogerini


 * Amazonini


 * Forpini


 * Arini

Subfamily Psittaculinae
 * Subfamily Psittrichasiinae: Pesquet's Parrot and Vasa parrota
 * Subfamily Platycercinae
 * Psittaculini


 * Psittacellini


 * Pezoporini


 * Platycercini


 * Agapornithini


 * Loriini

Species lists

 * Species list sortable alphabetically by common or scientific name
 * Species list in taxonomic order

Books

 * Bruce Thomas Boehner - Parrot Culture. Our 2,500-year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird (2004)