Micke Grove Zoo

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Black Parrot
Coracopsis nigra

  • Habitat: tropical rainforests and mangroves
  • Range: found in Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar
  • Natural Diet: fruits and buds
  • Status in the Wild: Common

 

Fun Facts

  • Black parrots are only found in Madagascar

  • They have strong, curved bills, strong legs, and clawed feet

  • While most species of parrots are brightly colored, these parrots are blackish-grey in color.

  • Females tend to display feather loss on their necks and head during breeding season

  • Their incubation period is unique and lasts two to three weeks. The incubation periods for most other species of parrots is approximately 4 weeks.

  • During the breeding season, females vocalize to their males to motivate them. When females' incubate their eggs, they are fed by the males.

 

In the wild, black parrots feed on flowers, buds, seeds, and fruits 

 

Conservation Threats

The major threats are illegal hunting and trapping for food consumption and pet trade has had a detrimental influence on wild numbers

 

In the wild, they are habitat generalists living in different habitats in Madagascar and Seychelles Islands 

 

 Black parrots are literally entirely black in color which helps them camouflage in forests from their predators

 

 

Fruit and veggie kebabs are their favorite at the zoo and the Animal Care staff provide these regularly

 

 

 

 

A variety of types of enrichment items are given to them and they have been observed to use most of them

 

 

Map           Distributional range -           [Black parrots are endemic to Madagascar (the island in black to the right of Africa) and Seychelles Island]