• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Green Parrots Rub Against Plants For Parasite Protection – And Probably Also To Get High

June 22, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

The relationships between animals and their environments are some of the most complex and fascinating that exist. From whales taking time for spa trips, to orangutans using local plants to treat wounds, animals’ knowledge of what local flora can make them feel better is pretty damn impressive. New research suggests that Norfolk Island green parrots are also partial to a bit of the local foliage, and have been using plant bark to remove parasites – and maybe even getting themselves high in the process. 

Advertisement

Unfortunately, being a Norfolk Island green parrot (Cyanoramphus cookii) is pretty tricky with the amount of ectoparasites you have to look out for. These include things like feather-feeding lice, blood-feeding mites, ticks and fleas, fungi, and bacteria. Not only are these unwanted hitchhikers an annoyance, but they can transmit disease and affect reproductive success and, ultimately, survival. 

Advertisement

To remove these pests, birdkind is known to use ants in a process known as “anting”, as well as taking dust and more traditional water baths. Throughout the literature there have been a few reported cases of parrots stripping leaves off plants and either covering their feathers in the resulting juice, or placing the leaves themselves between their feathers. 

In the new study, the team observed the parrots visiting young pepper trees (Piper excelsum), where they self-anointed with the vegetation from the pepper trees. Separate observations, one in the winter of 2015 and a series over two summers from 2018-19 to 2019-20, saw birds visit these pepper trees. Once there, the birds bit a section off the lateral shoots and chewed a portion; they then proceeded to preen their feathers, often using preen oil from the uropygial gland. The team saw in their observations that the preen oil and the aromatics from the tree were combined and mixed through the feathers. 

The pepper trees contain lots of smelly compounds including piperine, which is known to repel insects as well as having antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. As well as the obvious benefits with regards to parasites, the team think there might be more to this behavior than hygiene.

Advertisement

In an article in The Conversation, study first author Penny Olson explains that the parrots are enjoying themselves during their interactions with the pepper trees and could be getting an extra benefit from the components. Olson suggests that anting, in which the birds are subjected to formic acid, could have a similar effect, with the birds getting high off the fumes. 

“Likening green parrots rubbing aromatic vegetation through their plumage to inebriated pigeons falling from trees may seem a stretch. But nature rewards behaviour that offers evolutionary advantage, often, it seems by tapping into animals’ pleasure centres. The pursuit of pleasure is an important, usually overlooked, aspect of animal behaviour, worthy of attention and further research,” concluded Olson. 

The study is published in Austral Ecology.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Sendoso nabs $100M as its corporate gifting platform passes 20,000 customers
  2. Bolsonaro says northern Brazil power line to be built
  3. Life Has Been Found Beneath Hydrothermal Vents For The First Time
  4. AI Just Cleared A Big Hurdle On The Road To Nuclear Fusion Energy

Source Link: Green Parrots Rub Against Plants For Parasite Protection – And Probably Also To Get High

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • DNA From Greenland Sled Dogs – Maybe The World’s Oldest Breed – Reveals 1,000 Years Of Arctic History
  • Why Doesn’t Moonrise Shift By The Same Amount Each Night?
  • Moa De-Extinction, Fashionable Chimps, And Robot Surgery – No Human Required
  • “Human”: Powerful New Images Mark The Most Scientifically Accurate “Hyper-Real 3D Models Of Human Species Ever”
  • Did We Accidentally Leave Life On The Moon In 2019 – And Could We Revive It?
  • 1.8 Million Years Ago, Two Extinct Humans Had One Of The Gnarliest Deaths In History
  • “Powerful Image” Of One Of The World’s Rarest Tigers Exposes The Real Danger In Taman Negara
  • Evolution, Domestication, And A Lot Of Very Good Boys: How Wolves Became Dogs
  • Why Do Orcas Have White Spots Near Their Eyes?
  • Tomb Of First King Of Ancient Maya City Discovered In Belize
  • The Real Reason The Tip Of Your Tape Measure Wiggles Like That
  • The “Haunting” Last Message From NASA’s Opportunity Rover, Sent From Inside A Planet-Wide Storm
  • Adorable Video Proves Not All Gorillas Hate The Rain. It Might Even Win One A Mate
  • 5,000-Year-Old Rock Art May Show One Of Ancient Egypt’s First Rulers
  • Alzheimer’s-Linked Protein Levels “20 Times Higher” In Newborn Babies – What Does This Mean?
  • Americans Were Asked If They Thought Civil War Was Coming. The Results Were Unexpected
  • Voyager 1 & 2 Could Be Detected From Almost A Light-Year Away With Our Current Technology
  • Dams Have Nudged Earth’s Poles By Over 1 Meter In The Past 200 Years
  • This Sugar Could Be A Cure For Male Pattern Baldness – And It’s Been In Our Bodies All Along
  • “Cosmic Immigrants”: Daytime Star Seen In 1604 May Be An “Alien Type Ia Supernova”
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version