by Mona » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:42 pm
Hi Michael:
These are interesting questions and they would probably be good candidates for a study of some sort. Ornithologists know that birds of all kinds have very elaborate and differing courtship rituals. Is it innate or learned? To some extent, it must be learned. I have heard that in aviculture, it is often difficult to find male parrots that will breed because they never learned how to quite get it right. For a lot of species, the hens tend to "catch on" but without a role model, the boys seem to have difficulties...and even if they do breed, the boys especially often do not catch on to the skills needed to raise a family.
Part of the courtship ritual has to do with feeding. I think that would be hard-wired because of the bird's anatomy and because they have a crop. Regurgitation seems to be a natural behavior for a lot of species of parrots.
I have also seen it argued that "imprinting" is the wrong term to use for parrots. Parrots do not necessarily "imprint" like a duck or a chicken will do. It has been argued that their early learning is a lot more sophisticated because they are altricial, not precocial. It's theorized that altricial babies don't imprint.
I suspect that many species of parrots have very sophisticated social networks in the wild. Some of that may be preserved when we bring them into domesticity but a lot must get lost. This is a controversial subject because many breeders do not breed "companion parrots" but hold back babies to be raised by their parents specifically to breed - not to be raised as companions. Some people argue that co-parenting makes sense (parents raise babies with people involved) and many breeders argue that it is impossible. A lot of birds in the companion parrot trade are incubator hatched or pulled early from the nest. There is a lot of discussion about this. I personally do not know how much is conjecture and how much is really understood.
Living with three Senegals, I can see that they do have a sophisticated social acumen and it seems to me that it's about much more than "sex". They also seem to form alliances. It's not so much imprinting. I think they have some sort of "logic" that I may not clue in on very well. I think part of the "logic" has to do with forming "clicques" like kids do in high school. The logic is probably more in the line of: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The friend of my enemy is my enemy...that kindof stuff.
I don't know the answer but this is certainly an important subject and one that deserves a lot more consideration. I think a breeder would do a much better job of weighing in on it.
Thanks!
Mona
Mona in Seattle
Phinneous Fowl (aka Phinney) TAG
Babylon Sengal
Doug (spousal unit)
Jack and Bailey (Gremlins)
Kiri (CAG)
http://www.flyingparrotsinside.comyoutube: Avian Flyers