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Feather picking by Amazon parrots
Advances
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Behavior Feather Picking by Amazon Parrots Background The quality of the cage environment is believed to contribute to psychogenic feather picking by parrots. In chickens, there is a known relationship between absence of foraging opportunity and the performance of a similar behavior, feather pecking. However, there is little scientific evidence of the environmental effects on psychogenic picking in parrots. Objectives To assess whether providing environmental enrichments designed to facilitate foraging behaviors would suppress feather picking behavior by parrots. Procedure Two groups of 8 parrots were parentreared to weaning and then housed singly in either enriched or unenriched cages for 48 weeks. Enriched cages had a unique combination of 1 foraging and 1 physical enrichment presented to each parrot weekly. In both groups, feather condition was rated using a 10-point scale. Results Cage enrichments led to an improvement in feather condition in the first group of parrots over 48 weeks. In the second part of this study, the control group was transferred to the enriched treatment for a period of 16 weeks. During this period re-feathering occurred and feather scores improved significantly, indicating that feather picking behavior had decreased. Author Conclusion Enriching the environment by providing appropriate foraging substrates and increasing physical complexity can significantly suppress feather picking behavior by parrots. Inclusions Four figures, 2 tables, 36 references. Editor Annotation This is a terrific article because it utilizes a captive-bred colony, so that early factors
are relatively controlled. It is also a very useful paper for the practitioner because parrots are considered small companion animals in some practices. The study was well designed so that we can have faith that the findings will translate to the home environment, and many of the findings extrapolate to the world of dogs and cats. Although it is important to remember that when some of these findings are translated to mammals, the overall visual effects may be different (and possibly more dramatic) because of differences in growing feathers compared to fur. The feather-scoring system developed by the authors is brilliant, and can serve as a model for how we should score selfmutilation in dogs and cats. Quantitative scoring systems assist both clients and veterinarians to assess improvement. They also allow those interested in research in the field to talk to each other using the same terminology, thereby facilitating large, multicenter studies on self-mutilation which are currently wholly lacking. Environmental enrichment which mimics behavior diversions from feather pickings that birds would exhibit in the wild resulted in relatively rapid feather recovery, a rate of improvement that exceeded the rate of previous decline. The subjects of this study are animals that, while tamed, are not domesticated. The process of domestication likely selected for a different response to environmental enrichment needs than in species that only tolerate being tamed. It could be argued that cats took a different domestication path than dogs, one that involved less human intervention and less focus on specific behaviors. Cats are much more profoundly affected by changes in the social and physical environment than are dogs when one examines correlates of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The basic take-home message that applies to all of our patients is that owners should try to recognize, actively assess, and address their companions’ environmental needs. (KLO) Meehan CL, Millam JR, Mench JA. Foraging opportunity and increased physical complexity both prevent and reduce psychogenic feather picking by young Amazon parrots. App Anim Behav Sci 2003;80:71-85.
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Behavior Feather Picking by Amazon Parrots Background The quality of the cage environment is believed to contribute to psychogenic feather picking by parrots. In chickens, there is a known relationship between absence of foraging opportunity and the performance of a similar behavior, feather pecking. However, there is little scientific evidence of the environmental effects on psychogenic picking in parrots. Objectives To assess whether providing environmental enrichments designed to facilitate foraging behaviors would suppress feather picking behavior by parrots. Procedure Two groups of 8 parrots were parentreared to weaning and then housed singly in either enriched or unenriched cages for 48 weeks. Enriched cages had a unique combination of 1 foraging and 1 physical enrichment presented to each parrot weekly. In both groups, feather condition was rated using a 10-point scale. Results Cage enrichments led to an improvement in feather condition in the first group of parrots over 48 weeks. In the second part of this study, the control group was transferred to the enriched treatment for a period of 16 weeks. During this period re-feathering occurred and feather scores improved significantly, indicating that feather picking behavior had decreased. Author Conclusion Enriching the environment by providing appropriate foraging substrates and increasing physical complexity can significantly suppress feather picking behavior by parrots. Inclusions Four figures, 2 tables, 36 references. Editor Annotation This is a terrific article because it utilizes a captive-bred colony, so that early factors
are relatively controlled. It is also a very useful paper for the practitioner because parrots are considered small companion animals in some practices. The study was well designed so that we can have faith that the findings will translate to the home environment, and many of the findings extrapolate to the world of dogs and cats. Although it is important to remember that when some of these findings are translated to mammals, the overall visual effects may be different (and possibly more dramatic) because of differences in growing feathers compared to fur. The feather-scoring system developed by the authors is brilliant, and can serve as a model for how we should score selfmutilation in dogs and cats. Quantitative scoring systems assist both clients and veterinarians to assess improvement. They also allow those interested in research in the field to talk to each other using the same terminology, thereby facilitating large, multicenter studies on self-mutilation which are currently wholly lacking. Environmental enrichment which mimics behavior diversions from feather pickings that birds would exhibit in the wild resulted in relatively rapid feather recovery, a rate of improvement that exceeded the rate of previous decline. The subjects of this study are animals that, while tamed, are not domesticated. The process of domestication likely selected for a different response to environmental enrichment needs than in species that only tolerate being tamed. It could be argued that cats took a different domestication path than dogs, one that involved less human intervention and less focus on specific behaviors. Cats are much more profoundly affected by changes in the social and physical environment than are dogs when one examines correlates of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The basic take-home message that applies to all of our patients is that owners should try to recognize, actively assess, and address their companions’ environmental needs. (KLO) Meehan CL, Millam JR, Mench JA. Foraging opportunity and increased physical complexity both prevent and reduce psychogenic feather picking by young Amazon parrots. App Anim Behav Sci 2003;80:71-85.