Do you have stupid pet peeves? I have many and don’t admit to most, but today I’m going to share one with you that absolutely drives me nuts. Perhaps its because I’ve written five young-adult reference books and have had to learn a lot of taxonomy. (Try learning all the species of endangered owls and trying explain their taxonomic differences to middle school kids. You’ll have a taxonomy fetish too!) So what does this have to do with the implications of chicken eating parrots? EVERYTHING!
Check out this taxonomic table which I have prepared for today’s scientific lesson. Pay attention class! Here we go…
|
|
HUMAN |
CHIMPANZEE |
COW |
PARROT |
CHICKEN |
|
Kingdom: |
Animalia |
Animalia |
Animalia |
Animalia |
Animalia |
|
Phylum: |
Chordata |
Chordata |
Chordata |
Chordata |
Chordata |
|
Class: |
Mammalia |
Mammalia |
Mammalia |
Aves |
Aves |
|
Order: |
Primata |
Primata |
Artiodactyla |
Psittaciformes |
Galliformes |
|
Family: |
Hominidae |
Hominidae |
Bovidae |
Psittacidae |
Phasianidae |
|
Genus: |
Homo |
Pan |
Bos |
Psittacus |
Gallus |
|
Species: |
sapiens |
troglodytes |
taurus |
erithacus |
gallus |
Cannibalism is defined as “the practice of eating the flesh of your own kind.” So, my interpretation would be that you must eat the same species. So if your parrot chomps on chicken marrow, it’s not even close to cannibalism.
I’m willing to throw you a bone though (get it? throw you a bone??). We’ll skip over belonging to the same genus all together. Let’s say you must be of the same FAMILY in order to be a cannibal. Okay, most of us get squeamish at the idea of any primate on the plate for dinner, fair enough. Note that according to the taxonomy, chimpanzees are then too closely related to the eat without moral question. What about parrots and chicken? Nope. Criminy, they aren’t even of the same ORDER!
“So what!” you say. It’s still birds eating birds. Okay, you know what makes them birds? Their CLASS. So, here’s the kicker. Humans and cows and sheep and pig are all of the same CLASS….mammals.
What’s that you say? You love a good steak or a pork roast? You CANNIBAL you!!
Yes, chicken and parrots are as far apart on the taxonomic tree as people and cows. So the next person that makes a comment about how parrots eating other fowl are cannibals gets a BIG FAT F.
Class dimissed. 
I let my Jazz chew on chicken bones all the time. She liked busting them all up and being
she does’t play with toys very much it’s a great way for her beak to get a much needed
work out.
I always joke and say she’s eating her
Aunt Herriot or whatever when she’s chewing
on a chicken bone : )
I feed my parrots chicken bones as well. In fact, in the first manuscript of A Parrot for Life, I wrote about it as good enrichment. However, I took it out of the book after several people gave me documented cases of parrots with crops impacted by chicken bones.
I still give my birds chicken bones (and they like the tips of crab legs too) but I always warn people that crop impaction is a possibility if your bird actually EAT the bone and not just the marrow.
Something to think about and to pass on. I don’t agree with fear mongering, but it doesn’t hurt to share useful and documentable info.
Thanks for reading!!
LOL… good points. so glad too since we all had a nice chicken sandwich today.
but i didn’t know that there was a major difference.
i just didn’t care, its protein for them. and they love it.
gootta go look up these things now. what are ostriches? ducks? penguins? argh!!
Now you must explain why my dog eats cat poo like they are brownies : )
Barb– I could talk about how cat poo has a high protein content and yadadada, but you’ve already got the training solution covered.
Cat poo breath is the worst though. Blahhhh!
When I first started working with feral chickens, I used “chicken”-flavored dry cat food. They loved it. Once I gave them the remains of a drumstick, and the ensuing feeding frenzy would make Jaws look tame.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the whole notion of “cannibalism” must be a human construct. “Food” is just so damned weird anyway. . . .
Sumo likes a little chicken every now and then and so do I
Thanks so much for this…..also one of my pet peeves. You-You loves chicken and craved it extensively especially as a youngster…. my friends are horrified….I’ve tried to explain….
This post made my morning! My African grey parrot is, as we speak, eating some chicken bone marrow and having a blast! Your way of thinking really put things in perspective for me.
Meddy is currently having the equivalent of a bird filet mignon.
- Daniel Chui
Plus, hasn’t anyone ever noticed that hawks, owls falcons and eagles eat other birds like they’re going out of style… it’s their natural food source…
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Thanks for explaining this in a simple way. I had to argue that a crow (or some other wild bird) eating chicken wasn’t cannibalistic. Youtube comments are always fun, am I right? :p