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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
chattering
lory |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Aves |
| ORDER: |
Psittaciformes |
| FAMILY: |
Loriidae
(parrot) |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Lorius
(parrot) garrulous flavopalliatus |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
As
its name implies, this mostly red parrot has a yellow
patch on the mantle. The wings and thigh regions
are green and the wing coverts are yellow. The tail
is green with a blue tip. The iris of the eye is
orange-red and the beak is hooked. |
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| SIZE: |
Approximately
30 cm (12 in.) |
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| WEIGHT: |
Approximately
190-225 g (6.7-7.9 oz.) |
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| DIET: |
Feeds
on fruit, seeds, buds, nectar, unripe grain, and
pollen |
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| INCUBATION: |
24-25 days |
| CLUTCH
SIZE |
2-3
eggs |
| FLEDGING
DURATION |
10 weeks |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
Approximately
3.5 years |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Approximately
28-32 years |
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| HABITAT: |
Found
in rainforest areas |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
Estimated
at 31,000-220,000 |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Endangered |
| CITES |
Appendix
II |
| USFWS |
Not
listed |
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| 1. |
Lorikeets
have very specialized tongues for feeding on nectar.
Tiny hair-like structures called 'papillae' line
the end of the tongue in the shape of an "U".
When a lorikeet extends its tongue during feeding,
the papillae stand on end, like bristles on a brush,
allowing nectar and pollen to be easily soaked up.
Unique to lorikeets, this trait has earned them
the nickname "brush-tongued" parrots. |
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| 2. |
Also unique to lorikeets is the shape of their beaks.
The upper mandible has a long, pointed tip and much
narrower structure than other parrots. This serves
to easily extract hard-to-reach seeds from cones
and other hard vegetation. The birds will scrape
the fruit on the inside of their bill and remove
the sweet juices with their specialized tongues.
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| 3. |
Approximately 70% of their day is spent feeding,
and lorikeets will travel more than 30 miles a day
to find food. Some lorikeets can feed on as many
as 650 flowers each day. |
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| 4. |
They
are constantly active and noisy, feeding in large
groups and even in the company of other parrots
or other honey-eating birds. |
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| 5. |
Lorikeets
will establish daily flight paths connecting their
feeding sites, which tend to follow the natural
contours of the landscape, such as hills, valleys,
and rivers. At night, lories retreat along these
paths back to their communal roosts, which can contain
as many as several thousand birds. |
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| 6. |
They
will travel long distances in order to locate a
suitable nesting site. This will typically consist
of a nest with a layer of wood dust along the bottom,
usually in a tree cavity often as high as 80 feet
above the ground. |
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| 7. |
During
the courtship dance the male hops around the female
and then dazzles her by revealing his bright yellow
converts. |
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| 8. |
These
highly social birds are some of the most colorful. |
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| 9. |
Lories
are very playful and inquisitive, enjoying bathing
and playing in the water. |
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| 10. |
They
are excellent mimics, but generally poor talkers. |
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There
are 53 species of lories. Nearly all of them suffer
from habitat destruction, logging, agriculture,
and exotic pet trade. Trapping them in the wild
instead of captive breeding is responsible for
their rapidly declining numbers.
Their
diet of fruits such as apples and pears as well
as corn often causes them to be responsible for
crop damages and are thus seen as pests in some
parts of their range where they are no longer
protected. In addition, trapping them in the wild
instead of captive breeding and the increase of
introduced predators such as cats and dogs are
responsible for their rapidly declining numbers.
Lories
are very important to our ecosystem because of
their eating habits. Not all of the seeds they
consume are digested; many are passed in the bird's
guano over new areas of the forest. Some species
eat nectar and are important in the pollination
of many species of plants in the tropical forests.
The
U.S. Wild Bird Act forbids the commercial import
of any bird listed by CITES which includes most
parrots - endangered or threatened.
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|
|
Forshaw, J.M. Parrots of the World. New
Jersey. T.F.H. Publications Inc. 1978.
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| Low,
R. Lories and Lorikeets. New York. Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company. 1977. |
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| Parker,
S. P. (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.
Birds II. Vol. 8. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Co., 1972. |
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| Perrins,
C. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Birds. New
York: Facts on File Publications. 1985. |
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| www.aquariumofpacific.org/lorikeets/lorikeets.htm |
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| http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html |
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