Black Cockatoos for example feed extensively on wood-boring beetle larvae. The strangest feeding habit among parrots is that of the Kakapo, Strigops habroptilus , of New Zealand which feeds by chewing on leaves which are still attached to the plant. It sucks the juices out of the chewed up leaves, leaving a ball of chewed leaf behind still attached to the plant, making it easy to know where one has been feeding. Another New Zealand parrot, the Kea has been given a bad name in common myth as a killer of sheep. There is, however, no scientific evident to support this accusation though it is known to feed on carrion if given the opportunity.
Most parrots are forest birds living in small groups or as individual pairs or families.
The majority of parrots live in the tropics and the southern hemisphere with Australasia and S. America having the greatest number of species. The most northerly parrot now is the Slaty-headed parakeet, Psittacola himalayana , from eastern Afghanistan. The most southerly distributed parrot is the Australian Conure, Enicognathus ferrugineus . Most parrots are monogamous, form strong pair bonds which in some cases last for life which can be a considerable number of years, especially in larger species. The age record for a bird is held by a Cockatoo, with an officially accepted age of at least 82 years.