Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 August 11

= August 11 =

Parrots and cuttlefish bones
Pet parrots are often provided with a cuttlebone as both a source of calcium, a beak sharpener/conditioning tool and just as something to pull apart in general. My parrot (goffin) really seems to love the texture of it - the way it collapses when squeezed hard.

I was wondering - what (if anything) do wild parrots use for this purpose? 146.200.127.77 (talk) 06:46, 11 August 2022 (UTC)


 * You might have come up with a possible explanation for why wild cockatoos, most often sulphur-crested cockatoos, in Australia attack timber parts of houses and some plants. HiLo48 (talk) 07:54, 11 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Could be analogous to indoor cats which are given scratching posts, lacking natural tree trunks in most houses. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:00, 11 August 2022 (UTC)
 * In the wild, the diets of most Parrots include tough nuts and seeds which their beaks have evolved to deal with. Although pet parrots are (hopefully) also fed with such items, these will likely form a lower proportion of their diets due to softer foods also being supplied, so they need to perform supplementary chewing that reduces the discomfort of beak overgrowth.
 * Since in the wild beak under-growth would be a problem, parrots' beaks probably naturally grow a little more than on average is necessary, and they probably also correct this by supplementary chewing. Possibly "urban parrots" are also feeding partly on human-discarded (or deliberately offered) foodstuffs softer than their 'natural' diet, so have to perform more of this beak maintenance. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.196.45.159 (talk) 21:42, 11 August 2022 (UTC)