Commonly, the members of the order Psittaciformes are known as parrots. This group of birds is made up of parrots (Psittacoidea), cockatoos (Cacatuoidea) and New Zealand parrots (Strigopoidea). They all have one characteristic in common that usually attracts a lot of attention: they have the ability to imitate sounds.
Some species of parrots that live in captivity can learn to imitate human words. For this reason, we say that parrots speak. However, this capacity may be more or less limited depending on the species. Some of them cannot even speak. In this article, we will tell you which parrots speak and why they do it.
Characteristics of parrots
These are the main characteristics of parrots:
- Upright posture: your body is broad, strong and always in an upright position.
- Zygodactyl Claws: Parrots have four toes. Two of them are heading forward and the other two are heading back. This allows them to remain perched on tree branches for a long time.
- Robust beak: they have a very large beak, curved downwards and specialized in opening nuts with shell.
- Sedentary: these birds are not migratory, but remain all their lives in the same place.
- Herbivores: most parrots feed on seeds, usually encapsulated. In addition, they supplement their diet with flowers, leaves, roots, resin, bark, fruit pulp, and arthropods. The parrots of the subfamily prefer nectar and pollen from flowers.
- Monogamous: during the breeding season, these animals make solitary nests in the hollows of the trees. In them, they reproduce with a single pair throughout the reproductive season or even throughout their lives. In a small number of species polygamy occurs.
- Social: Most of the species form large flocks that sleep and feed together. In addition, they often socialize with other flocks.
- Intelligence: along with corvids, they are one of the birds with the greatest cognitive abilities. It is because they have a very large brain with a highly developed brain.
- Vocal communication: they have specialized brain structures for language. They have a special brain nucleus that allows them to learn sounds throughout their lives.
- Highly threatened: 28% of the Psittaciformes (111 species) are considered endangered or vulnerable. Furthermore, 56% have their populations in decline. The destruction of their habitat and their capture to sell them as pets are their main threats.
