Parrot (family)

A parrot is any of the many birds belonging to the family Psittacidae. They have a characteristic curved beak shape and generally an erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl[?], having the four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two back.

Several species can imitate speech, and at least one, Irene Pepperberg[?]'s African gray parrot Alex[?], has been trained to use words to identify objects. Other kinds of parrot are the several species of macaw, and the Kea.

Birds of the parrot family can be found in most of the warmer parts of the world, including India, South East Asia and West Africa, with one species, now extinct, in the United States (the Carolina Parakeet). By far the greatest number of parrot species, however, come from Australasia, South America and Central America.

Along with the cockatoo family (the Cacatuidae), the parrot family makes up the order Psittaciformes. Confusingly, the term parrot can be used in either the broad or the narrow sense. See Parrot (order).

• ORDER PSITTACIFORMES
• Family Cacatuidae (cockatoos: 14 species in 6 genera)
• Family Psittacidae (true parrots)
  • Subfamily Loriinae (lorikeets and lories Sometimes classed as a full family and thus termed Loriidae)
    • 11 to 13 genera, centered in New Guinea, spreading to Australia, Indonesia, and the islands of the south Pacific.
  • Subfamily Micropsittinae
    • 6 speces of pygmy parrot, all in the genus Micropsitta
  • Subfamily Psittacini (Afrotropical parrots[?]
    • 12 species
  • Subfamily Psittrichadini
    • Pesquet's Parrot[?], Psittrichas fulgidus
  • Subfamily Arini (neotropical parrots[?])
    • 148 species
  • Subfamily Platycercinae
    • 35 to 38 species in about 14 genera, including the rosellas[?]
  • Subfamily Nestorinae
    • 3 species in 1 genus: Kea and Kaka[?] of New Zealand and the extinct Norfolk Island Kaka[?]
  • Subfamily Strigopinae
    • 1 species: the Kakapo of New Zealand
  • Unplaced tribe Psittaculini (paleotropic parrots[?])
    • About 11 genera, distributed from India to Australasia
  • Unplaced tribe Cyclopsitticini (fig parrots[?])
    • 5 species in 1 to 3 genera, all from New Guinea or nearby
  • Unplaced tribe Polytelini (long-tailed parrots[?])
    • 8 species in 3 genera, mostly Australian