Isosexual pair housing improves the welfare of young Amazon parrots

It has been suggested that isolation from conspecifics may contribute to the development of abnormal behaviors that are common in captive parrots, including stereotypy, feather plucking, excessive fearfulness and aggression (e.g. [Proceedings of the European Symposium on Bird Diseases, Beerse, Belgium (1987), p. 98; Kleintierpraxis 38 (1993) 511]). Thus, we assessed the influence of isosexual pair housing on the development of these behaviors, as well as the incidence of illness and injury, in young Orange-winged Amazon parrots ( Amazona amazonica). Parrots ( n=21) were parent raised to 6 months of age and then housed either singly or in isosexual pairs. All cages included inanimate enrichments that were changed regularly, and all parrots were handled regularly. Behavioral activity was recorded 0,3,6,9 and 12 months after the parrots were housed in the experimental cages, and responses (e.g. willingness to approach, tolerance to touch, flight distance) to familiar and strange human handlers and to novel objects introduced into the home cage were recorded periodically. Paired parrots used their enrichments more (GLM: F 1,10=13.74; P=0.004), and spent less time screaming ( F 1,10=4.90; P=0.051), less time preening ( F 1,10=5.12; P=0.047), and less time inactive ( F 1,10=9.24; P