![\"great](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2023\/07\/Great-green-macaw-chick-400.jpg\")
Great green macaws produce a single chick each year. Photo: Macaw Recovery Network.<\/p><\/div>\n
In the documentary, Moore gingerly places a 22-day-old chick in a terry-lined nest. Without complaint, the chick allows Moore to reveal the beginnings of pinfeathers on its wings. The singular chick, Almendro, is the only offspring its parents would produce that year. At most, the great birds raise up to three a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think it\u2019s important to breed them in captivity so we can have the best chick survivability possible,\u201d Moore said. \u201cAnd then we release them so that they can reproduce in the wild better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanks in part to an NSF GRFP<\/a> grant awarded to Moore this year, she is now furthering her studies of animal behavior and reintroduction science at the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Hobson Lab<\/a>. During a springtime call, her voice mingled with the chatter of 30 monk parakeets, residents at the lab\u2019s field office hosted by the USDA in Gainesville, Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cMy aim is to quantify differences in behavior between young monk parakeets raised by their parents and those raised with minimal contact by human researchers,\u201d explained Moore who uses a monk parakeet model to explore how early life experiences impact their social behavior as adults.<\/p>\n She said the differences may shed light on what social information juvenile parakeets learn from their parents. She also plans to conduct a long-term study to determine if monk parakeets can change their interactions as adults when presented with new social information after introduction to a larger group.<\/p>\n Darby Moore holds monk parakeet. Photo: University of Cincinnati, Hobson Lab.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThis research is interesting from the perspective of animal behavior, but it also has important implications for the field of reintroduction science,\u201d Moore said, citing threatened species in Central and South America. \u201cUnlike other tropical species, some parrot species are common in the pet trade despite being endangered. Breeding ex-pet parrots in captivity and releasing their young into the wild is becoming more popular as a conservation tool.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used this exact strategy at the Macaw Recovery Network to release scarlet and great green macaws into the wild, but many captive breeding and reintroduction practices are understudied from a scientific perspective. My proposed research has the potential to inform management strategies for parrot reintroduction programs.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"white](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2023\/07\/darby-moore-with-monk-parakeet-400-university-of-cincinnati-hobson-lab.jpg\")