DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8psb
title: Data and R code from: Nature calls: intelligence and natural foraging style predict welfare problems in captive parrots

description: Around half of all parrots (a highly threatened order) live in captivity.
 Here, some species thrive. Others, however, breed poorly or display
 stereotypic behaviours indicating stress. Using data on the
 prevalence of three types of stereotypic behaviour in pet (50 species;
 1,378 individuals) and aviculture hatch rates (115 species; 10,255
 breeding pairs), we applied Phylogenetic Comparative
 Methods (PCMs) to test hypothesised causes of this variation (relating to
 species’ rarity and constraints on natural behaviour). In the first
 empirical evidence that high intelligence increases vulnerability to poor
 captive welfare, species with large relative brain sizes were found to be
 most at risk of oral and whole-body stereotypic behaviour. This suggests
 that if they are to be kept in private homes, such parrots must be offered
 substantially more cognitive stimulation. Self-harming behaviours
 involving feather damage were predicted by naturally relying on food items
 that require substantial handling, highlighting inadequacies in captive
 diets (often highly processed); while relatively low hatch rates in
 aviculture were predicted by small captive population sizes, potentially
 due to genetic bottlenecks, inbreeding, and/or low availability of
 compatible mates. These novel findings should help advance captive parrot
 husbandry, and inspire further research applying PCMs to understand and
 improve animal welfare.
description: <strong>Outcome variable data
 collection</strong> <em>Stereotypic
 behaviour </em> Prevalence of three types of
 stereotypic behaviours (feather-damaging behaviour; other non-feather
 related oral stereotypic behaviour; and whole-body forms) were calculated
 from survey responses made by pet owners between April
 1<sup>st</sup> 2012 and July 1<sup>st</sup> 2013
 (www.parrotsurvey.com). These responses related to 1,378 parrots representing 50 species (meeting our inclusion criterion of n ≥ 5 birds/species). Using the same survey, we also collected detailed information on parrots’ living and rearing conditions. We calculated 10 species-typical demographic and husbandry characteristics, which could potentially act as confounds during analyses. <em>Captive hatch rates</em> We obtained captive hatch rates from the <i>Psittacine Captive Breeding Survey</i>, a 1991 census of over 31,000 parrots in 1,183 private breeding collections by TRAFFIC USA. These breeding records enabled us to calculate chicks hatched/breeding pair/year for 115 species (meeting our inclusion criterion of n ≥ 3 breeding pairs/species). To control for species differences in life history, data on natural fecundity (product of the median eggs/clutch and clutches/year) were also obtained for inclusion in subsequent models. <strong>Predictor variable data collection</strong> We collated species-level data on sociality in the wild (maximum feeding group size when foraging; presence or absence of communal roosting when sleeping; reliance on extensive foraging behaviour in the wild (inferred from the percentage of the natural diet requiring prolonged food search and handling); and generalism/behavioural plasticity (habitat and diet niche breadth, feeding innovation rate, relative brain size). Our two measures of rarity were endangeredness according to IUCN Red List categories (www.iucnredlist.org), and captive population sizes in aviculture.
description: Missing values are coded as NA.  
 <em>Description of variables</em> <b>Species_name:
 </b>Species scientific name<b>  </b> <b>English:
 </b>Species common name<b> </b>   <i>Outcome
 variables</i> <b>FDB:
 </b>Prevalence of feather-damaging behaviour<b>
 </b> <b>OSB:
 </b>Prevalence of oral stereotypic behaviour<b>   
 </b> <b>BSB:
 </b>Prevalence of whole body stereotypic behaviour<b>    
 </b> <b>Hatch_rate:
 </b>Captive hatch rates<b> </b>(chicks hatched/breeding
 pair/year)   <i>Wild biology predictor
 variables </i> <b>Max_feed_size:
 </b>Maximum feeding group size<b>     </b>
 <b>Communal_roost:
 </b>Presence/absence of communal roosting when sleeping (yes v
 no)<b>             </b> <b>Communal_roost_code:
 </b>As above, but coded 1 = yes, 0 = no <b>Food_search:
 </b>Percentage diet requiring extensive food
 search<b>              </b> <b>Food_handling:
 </b>Percentage diet requiring extensive food
 handling<b>                           </b> <b>Habitat_breadth:
 </b>Count of main habitat types in the native range<b>   
 </b> <b>Diet_breadth:
 </b>Count of main food types in the native
 range<b>              </b> <b>Innovation:
 </b>Total number of feeding innovations reported in the literature
 (relating to specific geographic regions)<b>    
 </b> <b>Inn_region:
 </b>Whether/not a species’ native range includes one of the
 geographic regions mentioned above (1 = yes, 0 = no) <b>Brain_vol:
 </b>Species’ average endocranial volume (ml) <b>IUCN_code:
 S</b>tatus in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red
 List of Threatened Species (ranked 1-5): Least Concern, Near Threatened,
 Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered. <b>Hatch_n_breed_pairs:
 </b>Number of breeding pairs contributing to calculation of captive
 hatch rates <b>Nat_fecund:
 </b>Natural fecundity (product of the median eggs/clutch and
 clutches/year) <b>Body_mass:
 </b>Species’ average body mass (g)<b>       
 </b> <b>Research_effort:
 </b>Research effort (number of published papers)   <i>Pet parrot population
 characteristics </i>    <b>Prop_adult:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population which is adult (v
 pubescent)<b>    </b> <b>Prop_known:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population which is of known sex (v
 unknown) <b>Prop_female:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population which is female (v
 male) <b>Human_reared:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population which has been entirely
 human-reared (v some parental rearing)<b>    </b>
 <b>Stand_cage:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population housed in a standard-sized
 cage (v larger)<b>     </b> <b>Prop_isolated:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population housed in conspecific social
 isolation (v some social contact) <b>Short_feed:
 </b>Proportion of a species’ population with short captive feeding
 times (v long [&gt;2hrs]) <b>Cap_diet_div:
 </b>Count of main food types in diet<b>  </b>
 <b>Early_EE:
 </b>Early (rearing) enrichment diversity<b>    
 </b> <b>Current_EE:
 </b>Current enrichment diversity