Broad-billed Parrot

The Broad-billed Parrot (Lophopsittacus mauritianus) or Raven Parrot is a large species of parrot native to the island of Mauritius. It became extinct in the 1680s but was brought back to life by the Greene Foundation in 2012.

Description

The broad-billed parrot has a disproportionately large head and jaws, and the skull was flattened from top to bottom, unlike in other Mascarene parrots. The parrot's distinct frontal crest of feathers is firmly attached to the skull, and unlike cockatoos, they cannot raise or lower it.

Broad-billed Parrots have rounded wings with long primary covert feathers, large secondary feathers, and a slightly bifurcated tail, with the two central feathers longer than the rest.

Male parrots are larger, measuring 22–26 in to the females' 18–22 in. The sexual dimorphism in size between male and female skulls is the largest among parrots. Differences in the rest of the body and limbs are less pronounced; nevertheless, it has greater sexual dimorphism in overall size than any other living parrot.

Ecology

Broad-billed Parrots are behaviorally flightless, though they can do so. They are good at climbing though and spend a lot of time in trees. They like to eat hard-shelled palm nuts from many types of palms and palm-like plants on Mauritius, including Latania loddigesii, Mimusops maxima, Sideroxylon grandiflorum, Diospyros egrettorium, and Pandanus utilis. They are important seed dispersers in their native habitat.

They share their habitat with several other de-extinct species, such as the dodo, the red rail, the Mascarene grey parakeet, the Mauritius blue pigeon, the Mauritius scops owl, the Mascarene coot, the Mauritian shelduck, the Mauritian duck, and the Mauritius night heron, saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise, the domed Mauritius giant tortoise, the Mauritian giant skink, and the Round Island burrowing boa, small Mauritian flying fox and the snail Tropidophora carinata . Some plants, such as Casearia tinifolia and the palm orchid, have also been reintroduced.

Conservation

Broad-billed Parrots are held at the Coldwater Rapids Zoo, Seasideville Zoo, ZSL London Zoo and Jersey Zoo.

over 100 Broad-billed Parrots have been released into a protected reserve on the dry leeward side of Mauritius, where they are thriving and breeding. Broad-billed Parrots are aggressive towards humans, but that has not discouraged the illegal wildlife trade from abducting these birds and selling them off to rich and misinformed bird-lovers.