One of the sad facts about the zoo world seems to be that parrots generally get hosed when it comes to having decent exhibits.
As Maguari said in a recent thread some zoos are getting away from the "parrot-on-a-stick" displays that make them out to be little more than parts of the landscaping, little more than feathered, noisy flowers or trees. These displays unfortunately still seem ubiquitous.
The idea for this thread came from this picture of what appears to be a pretty miserable kea exhibit in the Denver Zoo: http://www.zoochat.com/561/kea-exhibit-187842/
As we learn more about parrot intelligence it seems like they could be as intelligent as non-human apes and elephants. We know that they are frequently strong flyers, intellectually curious, and superb problem solvers. Why then do we keep putting them in cramped, barren boxes? Is my characterization of general parrot exhibits inaccurate? People have obviously been keeping parrots like this as pets and in zoos for possibly thousands of years. Is there any hope that we might find a better way to do it in an analogous fashion to how captive elephant exhibits and care are changing as we learn about their social structure, intelligence, and ecology?
Are there any great parrot exhibits in the zoos of the world that all zoos should consider as possible models?
The best zoo parrot display that I have seen isn't an exhibit, but rather the Los Angeles Zoo bird show which features several free-flying macaws that swoop down from a hillside about the show arena and soar around it several times. It gives people a real sense of what powerful fliers these birds are, but of course this only happens for the birds for very limited times of the day.
As Maguari said in a recent thread some zoos are getting away from the "parrot-on-a-stick" displays that make them out to be little more than parts of the landscaping, little more than feathered, noisy flowers or trees. These displays unfortunately still seem ubiquitous.
The idea for this thread came from this picture of what appears to be a pretty miserable kea exhibit in the Denver Zoo: http://www.zoochat.com/561/kea-exhibit-187842/
As we learn more about parrot intelligence it seems like they could be as intelligent as non-human apes and elephants. We know that they are frequently strong flyers, intellectually curious, and superb problem solvers. Why then do we keep putting them in cramped, barren boxes? Is my characterization of general parrot exhibits inaccurate? People have obviously been keeping parrots like this as pets and in zoos for possibly thousands of years. Is there any hope that we might find a better way to do it in an analogous fashion to how captive elephant exhibits and care are changing as we learn about their social structure, intelligence, and ecology?
Are there any great parrot exhibits in the zoos of the world that all zoos should consider as possible models?
The best zoo parrot display that I have seen isn't an exhibit, but rather the Los Angeles Zoo bird show which features several free-flying macaws that swoop down from a hillside about the show arena and soar around it several times. It gives people a real sense of what powerful fliers these birds are, but of course this only happens for the birds for very limited times of the day.
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I feel worse for the Kea's though. It doesn't sound like it will be changing soon. The Bird World expansion won't come for a while so it looks like they will be there for however long the zoo keeps them there. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the Kea will move into another cage. Hopefully, a larger cage, maybe the egyptian plovers enclosure. I still don't know why Denver gives those little birds so much room.
