Has anyone else seen this?

[Elizebird]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbvsaemH ... ure=g-vrec

http://www.birdsfromafrica.co.za/redafrican.html


Has anyone else seen that video or the photos of the completely red african grey?
I think it's a beautiful bird, definitely ... but I don't know how I feel about breeding for color or specific traits. It really messed up a lot of dog breeds. This made me think of the article on the bull dog...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magaz ... d=all&_r=0

If you've read that as well.

[marie83]

No I feel the same now.


I do have colour mutation birds but they have been rescues with the exception of my yellow sided conure who was from a breeder. I would never support that now and tbh I would probably only ever take on rescues and rehomes in the future. I have learned alot in the past few years about the harsh realities of the pet industry.

[parrotsareyay]

It's not always purposeful. Many times these mutations just come out randomly and don't always catch on. This happened with the first blue amazon and yellow amazon.

[marie83]

It's not always purposeful. Many times these mutations just come out randomly and don't always catch on. This happened with the first blue amazon and yellow amazon.

Sometimes they do yes but with animals a mutation is generally a one off, we then continue to breed them in such a way that the colour stays- alongside with any other defects. In the wild an animal with a mutation would most likely die before it could breed and pass on the genes so the mutation wouldn't carry on. That means only the strongest, healthiest and best suited to their environment would survive, that is pretty much the rule of nature- until we humans came along and interfered.