Interesting Parrot Facts

[AndrewH]

I was reading the other day and found some interesting information on parrots. I was curious about the evolutionary history of birds (a remarkably successful evolutionary design that has been around FAR longer than us humans ).

The fossil record indicates that the first "modern" parrots were around ~50 million years ago. At about this time, two families emerged in the Psittaciform phylum: Cacatudae (cockatoos) and Psittacidae (all other parrots).

There are many differences between cockatoos and other parrots, but have you ever noticed the difference in cockatoo feathers versus the feathers of other parrots? Cockatoos lack the structural iridescent feather that other parrots have (structural iridescence is the visual effect that we see when light scatters off the feathers of parrots like macaws, Amazons, etc).

 

[wildheart]

Wow Andrew, that is very interesting information! I did not know that.

 

[Bobby34231]

Think I read somewhere or saw a show were they said that birds evolved from lizards?.......interesting, have to check that to see if its fact or fiction when I find time to tear myself away from the forum :09:

That would probably interest Linky as she's both lizard minded and bird brained :11:

 

[nofearengineer]

That is very interesting indeed.

I always assumed that toos, tiels, and greys were more closely related than they are, as they are all powder-based.

The presence of powder-based birds in both branches suggests that oil-based parrots then later branched off from the greys (or their ancestors). Very thought-provoking.

 

[AndrewH]

Bobby, that's what intially got me curious (that and my macaw makes dinosaur noises when she is playing/wrestling with me), as I'd always heard that, as well. It seems that there are a lot of unknowns concerning birds prior to about 5 million years. Apparently the reptile origin is a valid theory, but there are fossil records that raise doubts. I'm planning to find a good book on the subject, as I find it fascinating.

NFE, I find it interesting that the greys and cockatiels are in the true parrot family. I would have thought cockatiels were somehow related to cockatoos, at least. I believe that I read somewhere that the earliest fossil record for modern parrots (~50 mil years) was found in Europe and it was a hookbill much like a cockatoo.

You also mentioned parrots branching from greys. Interesting. That may be so, as there is a lot of information out there on feather coloring (why some birds have the colors they do). I believe in greys and cockatoos alike, you only see white to black, with some yellows and reds. No blues and greens. There are some technical biological rationale behind this but I can't remember the particulars...if you are interested, I recommend reading up on this. Feathers are fascinating.

Another useless tidbit is that cockatoos apparently have a gall bladder; other parrots don't. A possible diet difference caused this evolutionary feature?

 

[nofearengineer]

NFE, I find it interesting that the greys and cockatiels are in the true parrot family. I would have thought cockatiels were somehow related to cockatoos, at least. I believe that I read somewhere that the earliest fossil record for modern parrots (~50 mil years) was found in Europe and it was a hookbill much like a cockatoo.

You also mentioned parrots branching from greys. Interesting. That may be so, as there is a lot of information out there on feather coloring (why some birds have the colors they do). I believe in greys and cockatoos alike, you only see white to black, with some yellows and reds. No blues and greens. There are some technical biological rationale behind this but I can't remember the particulars...if you are interested, I recommend reading up on this. Feathers are fascinating.

Another useless tidbit is that cockatoos apparently have a gall bladder; other parrots don't. A possible diet difference caused this evolutionary feature?

I think the cockatiels are indeed part of the cockatoos rather than the true parrots. I know they've been bounced around taxonomically though.

I did not know that about cockatoos. However, it does make sense if you look at where they come from. There are true parrots almost everywhere, but cockatoos originate almost exclusively from the Australia/New Zealand region. Since the gall bladder's function is to aid in digesting fats, it makes me wonder.....do cockatoos require (or just tolerate?) more fat in their diets than true parrots? 'Too owners?

 

[AndrewH]

You're right. Although this is an issue only recently clarified via DNA study. I found this very interesting link that synopsizes an article: Page Title

 

[Bobby34231]

Not sure exactly where Too's and Greys may fall in the evolutionary family tree, however Too's and Teils are geneticly related, I guess seeing is believing........the galatiel, hybrid of a galah (rose breasted cockatoo) and a cockatiel, things that make you go Hmmmm.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Va82B64ow]YouTube - galah cockatiel cross[/ame]

 

[Auggie's Dad]

"Lizards" is not a very precise cladistic term, but generally it refers to a subgroup of squamates. By this definition birds most certainly did not evolve from a lizard.

Birds did evolve from reptiles - dinosaurs to be precise.

Modern birds are most closely related to modern alligators and crocodiles, though birds are even more closely related to dinosaurs than they are to alligators.

In fact recent work by Richard Prum (and popularized by Carl Zimmer) would make you wonder where the line between dinosaurs and birds really is. Many dinosaurs that are most familiar (T-Rex, Velociraptor) almost certainly had feathers.

 

[Dj tweet]

Some really amazing stuff here and some of you really must do a heck of alot of reading etc to know all this
good on you though as it sure helps us lesser brained people to learn more