Are parrots really in a hurry?

The article describes the parrot as a "stupid cute" animal, saying that it feels as if it is strange that this bird does not become extinct. Parrots are indeed quite cute, but they are not stupid to say.

The article describes parrots as "stupid", first of all saying that they can't fly and are clumsy.

The Owl Parrot is indeed the only flightless parrot in existence, and its close relatives, the Parrot and the Kaka Parrot, are both flying and considered fairly intelligent birds. However, not being able to fly is not a patent of the owl, especially on such islands. New Zealand is a very typical example, including a variety of moa that have become extinct, as well as the most excellent flightless bird: the kiwi. Not counting penguins and flat-breasted birds, there are more than a dozen birds of purpose that have evolved flightless birds. However, most of them have gone extinct, and one of the most important reasons for this is the expansion of humans. One example is how many native species, including moa, were wiped out on the islands along the way from Taiwan, including moa.

Parrot Portrait Thanks to the author of this picture @tintin_18142 selflessly provided

The degradation of wings and flight ability is not an evolutionary regression, but adaptation, as to why many birds on the island give up flying, one view is that in the case of limited resources on the island (on the one hand, the selection pressure is very large), but the lack of natural enemies of mammals (the selection pressure in this regard is small), giving up the flight that consumes a lot of energy is an evolutionary direction.

In the episode of the NHK documentary "Hot Spots: New Zealand", Uncle Masaharu Fukuyama explains in his magnetic voice

"Birds need a lot of energy to fly, and it seems that there is no need to fly when food is plentiful and there are no natural enemies."

Owl parrot striding forward

Moreover, although the parrots gave up flying, they correspondingly evolved strong legs. Moreover, people who have observed parrots, especially medium and large parrots, know their climbing ability. And the owl parrot lives up to its name. They can climb up to the canopy of trees high in their habitat by "mouth and foot" and use. It's not easy, the parrot is the heaviest of the parrots. During the process of climbing the tree, although the wings that have appeared short will still flap frequently, this is not a nostalgia for flying, but a balance of the body. Moreover, after climbing to the tree, they can still spread their wings and glide appropriately. Although sometimes the branches will fall off because they can't bear their weight and break, this is a piece of cake for them, the wings can cushion the falling speed, and the strong and plush body is not afraid of this bump.

Tree-climbing owl parrot

Why do they climb trees? Go find something you love to eat. The cones of Dacrydium cupressinum, which can reach a height of up to 50 metres, are a favorite food of the parrot.

The 4 kg weight of the parrot is because they store a lot of fat, and this ability to store fat is the adaptability to the environment where the island's resources are unstable and they cannot fly elsewhere to forage.

The article also lists "a few characteristics" to "confirm that the iq of the owl parrot is indeed worrying." “。

1. The owl is a night owl that likes to move at night and is worthy of its name; females have little interest in reproduction, giving birth to birds on average every five years, longer than the World Cup cycle; male courtship is particularly stupid.

Both parrots and kiwis choose to be nocturnal, and it is generally believed that this is to avoid daytime predators. There were no mammals in New Zealand (except for some bats), and there were several fearsome birds of prey during the day, including the giant Haast's Eagle. And owls such as laughing owls at night pose a much smaller threat. The laughing owl had become extinct by humans and other mammals introduced by humans at the beginning of the last century.

Extinct laughing owl Scloglaux albifacies

Females are not less interested in reproduction, but choose the new Zealand land jun pine fruit of the big year, that is, an average of 3-5 years, this is obviously wisdom, not to take risks when food is plentiful, where is the IQ to catch the hurry, this is talent. And if there are not enough New Zealand land pine fruits, they will not breed, how can they know that a certain year is a big year, the researchers have not figured it out.

In terms of male courtship, nocturnal owl parrots are always unlikely to dance and display beautiful feathers like the daytime birds of paradise or pygmy birds. Owls are also basically courted by barking. The cuckoo also barks all night long. Parrots are very intelligent, they plane a pit in the ground, then lie down, inhale and inflate the air sacs, bulge their bodies into balls, and emit a low-frequency hum. This pit can help it expand the sound and spread farther, up to a distance of more than 1 km. According to the Maori description: In the past, when there were many parrots, the male birds' singing performances were very competitive, they had courtship fields, a group of male parrots gathered together to sing, and then the female parrots came to choose. Now the parrot is on the verge of extinction, but that doesn't mean that the female parrot must lower the standard. Birds with courtships are basically fiercely competitive. Attractive males can mate with many females.

The pit where the parrot is buzzing is typical of the location of the pit in the picture: backed by a tree or shrub, facing open ground, the tree or shrub can reflect its sound. Male owl parrots also clear some trails to welcome the arrival of females.

The article said: "Because the call of the owl parrot is very penetrating, it is easy to be found by predators at night."

In the past, in New Zealand, how many predators there were at night. I think that a group of parrots singing together, even if a laughing owl comes, the possibility of a single catch is diluted.

2. And the parrot, who was born stupid and cute, sees that the defense mechanism of strange creatures and threats is very bunker, that is- stand still! I'll go, stand still, which defense mechanism is ah, do you think you have transformed into stone?

What a common defensive strategy is to remain still, especially for parrots that look like a lump of grass, standing still is invisible. Even at night, the sound of movement is how attractive to owls. How many herbivorous mammals disguise themselves by standing still.

Owl parrot hiding behind plants

3. The parrot is indeed very simple and is never afraid of strangers

Many animals are like this to their strange animals, and when humans go to Antarctica, the penguins are the same, the ground finches on galapagos Island, elephants and turtles, and so on. Fear is learned the day after tomorrow. The parrot, on the other hand, is such a curious animal that the courage to explore things (at least in infancy) highlights the parrot's wisdom. The parrot's close relative, the parrot, was already curious enough to dismantle the car.

In addition, where is there "like to try to fly down from the tree, which will directly lead to casualties"? Is it speculation by some documentary audiences?

4. Even more tragically, the parrot smells very fragrant. This is an animal with the words "Come and eat me" on its forehead...

Although most birds do not have a good sense of smell, nocturnal owl parrots develop a sense of smell, and their smell is also speculated to be a pheromone. Again, they didn't have predators with a developed sense of smell before.

5. The number of owl parrots has always been small... Species of birds have been growing slowly and not reproducing aggressively, so they are always on the verge of extinction...

Who said that the owl has always been a small number, on the island of New Zealand, they are very successful species, very widely distributed in New Zealand, adapted to a variety of habitats, new Zealand altitude below 1250 meters above sea level have distribution. Before the Austronesian Maori arrived in New Zealand, they had few natural enemies. Māori can catch them for clothing (they also catch kiwi birds for clothing). But none of this brought them into an endangered situation, until European immigrants brought with them a large number of exotic species, especially mammals (of which cats were very responsible), and diseases, completely targeting the weaknesses of owl parrots, and making them miserable on the verge of extinction.

Historical distribution maps of owl parrots from Wikipedia, dark green is the largest range since 1840, and grass green is the range of fossil evidence.

The habitat of the owl parrot

All in all, after the ancestors of the Owl came to New Zealand, in this particular (isolated island, lack of natural enemies and competitors of mammals), a unique set of survival strategies evolved: including nocturnality, giving up the ability to fly, but strong hind limbs, a well-developed sense of smell, excellent climbing ability, fat storage, courtship by sound, selection of food-rich years to reproduce, and a strong curiosity.

Describing such parrots as "IQ catches" is equivalent to describing native Americans as "genetic defects" because native Americans could not resist the various diseases brought by Europeans, and more than 90% of the population died of diseases as "congenital deficiencies".

The fact that a species can undergo millions of years of evolution and adapt to its environment is a remarkable success in itself. All kinds of species, many are very "cute", but from the perspective of these successfully survived species, who is "stupid"?

The author finally said, "I also sincerely hope that this fat, flightless, stupid bird can get more human attention and like." “

But I would prefer that it's not just "cute" animals that are cared for, but that the way to "care" for animals is to understand the real people and the threats they are threatened.