Talk:Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 September 2019 and 27 November 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mg7520. Peer reviewers: Mn2019, Lb6578.

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Starting article

I entered the page "Abnormal Behaviour" primarily because I wanted to enter a lower level, stub type page listing abnormal behaviour in birds. There are many different species of animal which exhibit many abnormal behaviours, so I felt a covering title of "Abnormal Behaviour" would be appropriate into which other people specialising in other species could in the future add links to articles. I've just started writing on Wikipedia, so advice will be much appreciated. DrChrissy (talk) 12:54, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest a more focussed title, maybe something like "Abnormal behaviour of animals in captivity", or just keep it to birds - "Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity" or "Abnormal behaviour in aviculture". With regard to your hope that other editors will contribute to expand the article, you should raise the matter on the discussion pages of relevant projects - such as WP:BIRD or WP:VET. Best wishes. Maias (talk) 03:22, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Now that it has been pointed out, I can see how unfocussed the title is...there is abnormal behaviour of planets or abnormal behaviour of sub-atomic particles - and all inbetween. I have tried to change the title to "Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity" but had trouble doing so. Please feel free to change the title or send me instructions on how to do this. DrChrissy (talk) 19:08, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I can move it for you, if you like (do you not have a move option in the dropdown menu - next to the 'watchlist star'?)... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 20:46, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'm aware of these sorts of behaviours in parrots but not in other birds. I suspect it is something like the behavioural problems of pet dogs - and I'm not sure where they fit into Wikipedia.... DrChrissy (talk) 18:22, 9 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestion

Perhaps a mention of those aggressive, jealous and possessive, 'one person parrots' (you know, a parrot that will be tame, sweet and cuddly with its owner - but will attack anyone/thing else who approaches/interacts with either bird or owner)? I'm not certain of the correct term to describe this behaviour, however. Any idea, DrChrissy? --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 23:09, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Jealous parrot

This should be on there. I've seen an Amazon parrot goes into a rage when his owner interacts with another human when it can see. The bird will actually fly and attack the other person and try to chase them away. If he's in the cage, he'll start growling, running back and forward, biting the bars and biting his own feathers in frustration. Not really sure what the story is with that but it does happen and it is an abnormal behaviour. --95.150.167.197 (talk) 22:27, 5 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am not saying this type of behaviour does not happen, but how do you know it is motivated by 'jealousy' and being 'over-possesive'? There is considerable debate about whether non-human animals experience the same or analogous emotions as humans. Are your claims verifiable? DrChrissy (talk) 18:39, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've had a quick browse around and found this and this. Would 'misdirected resource guarding' be a better term for the above behaviour (I used to own a Peach-faced Lovebird that could get a bit like that sometimes, but not as bad as described above)? You ever hear of that? I don't really have access to many good resources aside from what I can find for free on the interweb. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 23:45, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The term 'resource-guarding' is certainly less anthropomorphic than 'jealousy', but resource guarding is perfectly natural in wild animals. In fact, the second of the articles that you kindly pointed us to states "In the wild, a successful parrot is one that is healthy due to good nutrition and able to achieve reproductive success by the protection of mate, nest and young. Hence, resource guarding is a natural survival behavior." If someone could show that parrots in captivity show this behaviour at higher frequencies or intensities than wild parrots, it could be described as abnormal.DrChrissy (talk) 17:56, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't really know about that, or if there are any statistics available, but wouldn't it be abnormal in itself that a pet parrot comes to consider a human as a 'resource' to be guarded? --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 23:39, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I would not really think of that as abnormal. It is perfectly normal for domestic dogs to protect their owners and homes as territory. If the parrot perceives the human as a source of food, then all it is doing is protecting it's single food source. Animals often behave differently under different circumstances. For example, under conditions of plentiful food, domestic cats will live quite peacefully in large social groups. Under conditions of food scarcity, the same cats become aggressive, defend territories and will guard food. Which is the ab/normal behaviour? DrChrissy (talk) 18:14, 9 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Laying infertile eggs

Why is this an abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity? Wild birds lay infertile eggs. Furthermore, I am not even convinced this is a 'behaviour' rather than a consequence of physiology. I believe it should be deleted from the article. DrChrissy (talk) 18:46, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It might be a reference to the chronic egg-laying type problems that sometimes occur in pet parrots that puts a large strain on the hen's body and can lead to egg-binding, brittle bones, etc. There should be lots about this on the web, if you Google it (e.g. here). Don't really know if it can be considered a 'behaviour' or not. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 19:07, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Merger proposal

I propose that the recently created, and nearly identically named, page Abnormal behaviour in birds in captivity, be merged into this page, Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity. Each page covers the same topic. DferDaisy (talk) 17:36, 30 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Merge - two articles just creates confusion for readers. --Nessie (talk) 14:56, 1 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Merge - the articles are almost identical, no need for 2. -Pizzabooty (talk) 03:07, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- Merge done -- phoebe / (talk to me) 15:21, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]