The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) supported efforts to breed parrots, which are protected species, through the signing of an agreement for collaboration between the BRIN Research Center for Applied Zoology and CV Pasundan.
The signing was conducted at BRIN’s Cibinong Science Center in West Java.
“There are approximately 85 species of parrots, and all types have been protected. Biological information about this bird is also very minimal. To find out the feed, we need research,” researcher of the Applied Zoology Research Center at BRIN, Siti Nuramaliati Prijono, noted in a statement as quoted from the agency’s official website, here on Friday.
Prijono was in charge of the collaboration forged between the two entities.
The measure to breed those parrots was conducted in a bid to increase the bird population and for the purpose of conservation, so it was expected that in future, people would not catch birds from their natural settings.
Prijono said that parrots are wild birds, so they found it difficult to adapt to a life of captivity. In future, it is necessary to collect biological information from parrots in Indonesia.
“Indonesia is home to diverse type of parrots. Hopefully, more researchers in Indonesia would conduct research on parrots,” she remarked.
The three groups of parrots are seed eaters, fruit eaters, and nectar eaters. Seed-eating parrots had a better ability to survive than nectar-eating birds.
In a bid to increase the parrot population, researchers had chosen the nectar-eating breed since they faced greater difficulty in ensuring its livelihood in captivity, coupled with the issue of their feeds.
Through research, BRIN researchers discovered a food formula for parrots to survive and breed in captivity.
“At the start of the study, indeed, there were birds that had died, but now, we have found a food formula, so they can survive and breed. Behavior in captivity must always be observed, so that they can survive,” she stressed.
Source: Antara News