PARROTS AND HUMANS

Parrots have a high profile among the public and have been kept in captivity by many different cultures in most parts of the world for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians, early Greeks and Romans, Polynesians and others in Southeast Asia, Caribbean islanders, and Central and South Americans have admired their beauty, enjoyed their companionship, used their feathers for cultural reasons and eaten their meat (Mulliken 1991). It is partly because of people's attraction to the charm of parrots that they are very much at risk of extinction. Of the 350 species of parrots, 100 are threatened with extinction.

The local use of African parrots is an ancient tradition going back to the days of the Egyptian empire. Parrots were among the first goods to be traded with European explorers. African rural people continue to rely on subsistence hunting for food, and endemic wild animals continue to be important components of the medicina (muthi) and magical (voodoo) trade for many local peoples of Africa. Sustenance hunting is an aspect, but a very small part, of the local use of African parrots, which form a part of the human diet in developing countries. Unlike in the Neotropical region, parrot feathers are not used in native featherwork for ornamental and ceremonial purposes (Thomsen & Brautigam 1991) and the birds are seldom kept as pets. There is little concern about the over-exploitation of parrots by local peoples in Africa, except for illegal trade.

However, habitat destruction and trapping for the wild bird trade cause the current plight of parrots. Where both of these pressures are present, the effects are compounded. When few individuals survive in a habitat reduced in size by habitat loss, trapping removes a larger proportion of the population than would previously have been the case. The smaller the remaining area, the smaller the population and the more likely it is to become extinct. Other significant threats include disease, and predation from and competition with introduced species.

It is tragic that people's strong attraction to parrots is the major cause of extinction for many species. This human–parrot bond should be used to ensure that parrot populations and their habitats are preserved.