Taming parent-reared orange-winged Amazon parrots by neonatal handling
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
1999 |
Authors: |
Wendi L. Aengus, James R. Millam |
Publication/Journal: |
Zoo Biology |
Publisher: |
Inc., John Wiley & Sons |
Keywords: |
amazona amazonica, captive propagation, hand rearing, neonatal handling |
ISBN: |
1098-2361 |
Abstract:
Tameness in parrots is often achieved by artificial rearing, in which chicks are typically removed from parents, fed a liquified or semi-liquified diet by oral gavage and maintained in thermally controlled brooders until they are grown. As an alternate means of rearing birds, we tested whether occasional neonatal human handling of parent-reared chicks might produce tameness while reducing the risk of sexual imprinting on humans. Orange-winged Amazon chicks (Amazona amazonica) were incubated and hatched by wild-caught parents, then were temporarily removed from the nest box, and handled at various times during the nestling period. In Trial 1, handled chicks (n = 6) were handled from days 10 to 39 of age for 10–20 min/day and from 40 days to fledging (days 56–/57) for 20–30 min/day. Nonhandled chicks (n = 4) were handled only to record body weight and provide medication, as needed. After fledging, chicks were evaluated for tameness, e.g., by their willingness to approach the handler, perch on a finger, be touched on the head, and by their respiratory rate in the presence of the handler. Handled birds differed significantly in all indices of tameness. In Trial 2, handled chicks were handled for 30 min, four times/week either from days 15 to 36 (n = 3) or 35 to 56 (n = 3); results were similar to Trial 1. Chicks handled later tended to be slightly tamer than those handled earlier. In both trials, the amount of time that handled chicks were in contact with humans was less than 2% of the time they spent with conspecifics. It is therefore unlikely that these chicks imprinted either filially or sexually on humans, although this has not been experimentally tested. While continued handling is likely necessary to maintain tameness, these results support the concept that neonatal handling of parent-raised parrots provides a low-labor and low-technology alternative to artificial rearing as a means of initially taming birds, thereby improving their adaptation to life in captivity. Zoo Biol 18:177–187, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.