Parrots
Rainbow Lorikeets
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittacidae
Genera
Many: see text.

A parrot is any of the many birds belonging to the family Psittacidae. They have a characteristic curved beak shape and generally an erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl, having the four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two back.

Along with the cockatoo family (the Cacatuidae), the parrot family makes up the order Psittaciformes. Confusingly, the term parrot can be used in either the narrow sense of the parrot family Psittacidae or the broad sense of the order Psittaciformes.

Birds of the parrot family can be found in most of the warmer parts of the world, including India, South East Asia and West Africa, with one species, now extinct, in the United States (the Carolina Parakeet). By far the greatest number of parrot species, however, come from Australasia, South America and Central America.

Many species can imitate human speech or other sounds, and at least one researcher, Irene Pepperberg has made controversial claims for the learning ability of one species; an African Grey Parrot Alex, has been trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" (with over 80% accuracy). Many other scholars claim that parrots are only repeating words with no idea of their meanings and point to Pepperberg's results as being nothing but an expression of operant conditioning.

Parrots are commonly kept as companion animals in many countries. Often the wings of such birds are clipped, but many people keep flighted pet parrots, allowing the birds to roam their homes or neighborhoods.

ORDER PSITTACIFORMES

• Family Cacatuidae: cockatoos
• Family Psittacidae
  • Subfamily Loriinae: 11 to 13 genera of lorikeets and lories, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific. (Sometimes classed as a full family and thus termed Loriidae.)
  • Subfamily Micropsittinae: 6 speces of pygmy parrot, all in a single genus
  • Subfamily Psittacini: Afrotropical parrots, 12 species
  • Subfamily Psittrichadini: Pesquet's Parrot
  • Subfamily Arini: neotropical parrots, 148 species
  • Subfamily Platycercinae: 35 to 38 species in about 14 genera, including the rosellas
  • Subfamily Nestorinae: 3 species in 1 genus, the Kea and Kaka of New Zealand and the extinct Norfolk Island Kaka
  • Subfamily Strigopinae: Kakapo
  • Unplaced tribe Psittaculini: paleotropic parrots, about 11 genera, distributed from India to Australasia
  • Unplaced tribe Cyclopsitticini: fig parrots, 5 species in 1 to 3 genera, all from New Guinea or nearby
  • Unplaced tribe Polytelini: long-tailed parrots, 8 species in 3 genera, mostly Australian