RE: Oviraptor=Parrot?

[Christopher Taylor <gerarus@westnet.com.au>]

    Kea are not the only parrots to dabble in carnivory - the Antipodes
Island parakeet (_Cyanoramphus unicolor_) also supplements its diet by
scavenging for broken eggs, dead chicks, etc. around penguin colonies.
I'm not sure if it hunts live prey - I seem to recall reading somewhere
(probably Worthy and Holdaway's _The Lost World of the Moa_) that they
have been known to dig into petrel burrows from above and kill the
helpless chicks inside, but my copy of the book is still waiting to
follow me from New Zealand, so I may just have an over-active
imagination. The kea is certainly an active hunter. Note that while the
kea is a reasonably large parrot (about the size of a small cockatoo),
the Antipodes Island parakeet is much smaller - about the size of a
Bourke's parakeet or a cockatiel.
    It's not so surprising that omnivory would appear in parrots -
anyone who has been at the end of a bite from one will know that they
are perfectly pre-adapted for slicing flesh and cracking small bones.

    Cheers,

        Christopher Taylor

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu] On Behalf
Of dannj@alphalink.com.au
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2006 12:21 PM
To: DML
Subject: Re: Oviraptor=Parrot?

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 20:09:10 -0600, Dora Smith wrote
> How big are these parrots?!!!

http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/NZbirds.html

KEA (Nestor notabilis)
Size: 46-48cm.
Status: Common.
Range: South Island high country from Marlborough and Nelson to
Fiordland. 
Straying to coastal areas.
Habitat: Native forest and the sub-alpine and alpine zones.
Food: Leaves, buds, fruits, insects and carrion.
Voice: A penetrating and drawn out “keaa” and a variety of softer calls.
Breeding: July-January. Two to four white eggs.
General: Has been persecuted as a sheep killer but there is some doubt
as to 
the extent it attacks healthy animals. A very cheeky bird, this mountain

parrot is quite capable of doing damage to your car by pecking all the
rubber 
from around the windows and pulling off windscreen wipers—not to mention
what 
it might do to what you have on your roof rack!

--
___________________________________________________________________

Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
___________________________________________________________________

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