Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 March 4

= March 4 =

How much meat do parrots eat in the wild?
Anyone know? Have seen pet Amazon parrots stripping meat and marrow from chicken bones. Judging by the happy trilling noises and eye flaring, they really love it. Supposed to be good for them on an occasional basis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.90.140.98 (talk) 07:47, 4 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Obviously it will depend on the species (there are almost 400 species of parrot) and the availability of meat. Our Parrot article provides some info in the section Diet: "The diet of parrots consists of seeds, fruit, nectar, pollen, buds, and sometimes arthropods and other animal prey. ... Some parrot species prey on animals, especially invertebrate larvae. Golden-winged parakeets prey on water snails, the New Zealand kea can, though uncommonly, hunts adult sheep, and the Antipodes parakeet, another New Zealand parrot, enters the burrows of nesting grey-backed storm petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoos and the New Zealand kaka excavate branches and wood to feed on grubs; the bulk of the yellow-tailed black cockatoo's diet is made up of insects. ... Some extinct parrots had carnivorous diets. Pseudasturids were probably cuckoo- or puffbird-like insectivores, while messelasturids were raptor-like carnivores." (For references see the article.) In general seeds seem to remain the most important; a meat-only diet will probably lead to malnutrition (see also Rabbit starvation). --Lambiam 11:01, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

dual mono to stereo, audio adapter
I have two audio sources. each provides mono audio, via a TRS jack. I need a stereo audio output, via a TRRS jack. one source each for the left and right channels. (1) can this adapter work without active power? (2) what is the name of this device? thanks! --14.194.231.184 (talk) 16:12, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * If that's all that you need, then a very simple passive adapter can do it. It doesn't even need any resistors to sum the signals (to mix two mono signals onto one, you'd use a Y network of resistors, like the diagram).
 * I don't know of a source for one ready-made, but you could make one by soldering. The easiest way might be to get an existing adapter, chopping the cores open in the cable (with a scalpel, to try and leave the screens intact) and then isolating one side and crossing the other side over in the other connector. Then pot the joint up under some Sugru or self-amalgamating tape.
 * I don't know what the pinouts are for TRRS (stereo) and TRS (mono). You'd have to confirm that for your particular device.
 * You should also check that the levels are suitable. You might need to make a passive mixer circuit (a few resistors and a couple of trimmers) because the levels are unlikely to be quite right, as they arrive – one is likely to be much louder and need balancing.
 * If you need (as is common) to pan the input signals between the stereo outputs, use something like this. Andy Dingley (talk) 16:26, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It seems you are describing a TRRS stereo breakout cable. It has TRRS female going to two TRS males. The left/right signal is broken out to the two males. It is a very common adapter. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 18:44, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * If they make such a thing, you could use one in reverse and that would work fine. Do you have a source for one? I've not seen one.
 * This is similar, but it's splitting the mic to one socket and the headphone output to the other – I think the OP is looking for something very similar, but splitting left and right. Andy Dingley (talk) 19:02, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Search for "trrs stereo breakout" to get the males and females on the correct side, like this. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 19:15, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * That's a "mic and headphones" splitter. We still need a "left and right". Andy Dingley (talk) 19:24, 4 March 2020 (UTC)


 * OK, as Our Friend In Guildford can't leave my email alone, let me explain.
 * The 4-connection TRRS plug & socket is defined for three different systems, with different pin allocations. The originals were for video and are unidirectional. More recent ones are common on cellphones, but (as always) there are two standards: "the world" (OMTP) and Apple iPhones doing it differently (CTIA). The old PC standard for gaming headsets is the same as Apple. See for pictures.  Note that both of them are designed so that plugging in a standard TRS stereo (but unidirectional) headphone jack will connect correctly to the furthest connections for audio output, and short the microphone input to ground, for silence.
 * I don't know what a "mono TRS" connection is, I guess you actually mean a mono jack with TS alone. However connecting to the left terminal (usually white) of a stereo TRS jack (leaving the red Ring unconnected) will probably do what you need. Andy Dingley (talk) 19:22, 4 March 2020 (UTC)