This survey is part of a large, international research project that aims to collect information about the demographics, husbandry, and behavior of pet parrots worldwide. Already, the survey data has been successfully used to identify biological risk factors for problem behaviors in parrots. Previous PhD student Heather McDonald Kinkaid found that parrot species with long wild foraging efforts were more likely to have feather damaging behavior in captivity, and that naturally intelligent species were more likely to develop other forms of abnormal behavior. Based on her findings, from 01/07/16 we have made some changes to the original survey to further investigate how natural foraging behavior influences abnormal behaviours and other health problems, such as obesity, in captivity.
Your contribution will be extremely valuable! Not just to us, but also to parrots in captivity worldwide, since the information you share will improve our understanding of normal parrot behavior in captivity and highlight factors that may play a role in the development of common behavior problems. With this knowledge, we can make informed predictions about how to best optimize our parrots' living environments – or about which solutions might best reduce, or even prevent, problem behaviors from occurring.
Are you interested in the results of this study? If so, then please keep an eye on this website. After the project is complete, we will post our findings here so that you can read about the things we have learned…
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