Updated info on the Eclectus Gut Length

Ellie777Australia

New member
Apr 12, 2019
1,280
98
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
SI Eclectus Female, Ellie; RS/SI Eclectus Male, Bertie (both adopted as rescue/re-home)
[FONT=&quot]I have read numerous articles and posts discussing the Eclectus dietary needs based on the belief that the Eclectus parrot has a longer gut. Here is a link to an article posted in 2018 proposing that " the diet-related problems that are common in ekkies may be related more to the speed at which they process food than to their gut length."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Little Feathered Buddies Health & Nutrition - Ekkie digestive tract[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I was going to post this in Laurasea's Ornithology thread but thought that we could start sharing new and updated Eclectus information here for Species specific discussion. Hope you enjoy the read.:)[/FONT]
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Hello Ellie,

Thank you for sharing this, and trying to start a very valuable and ongoing conversation.

I appreciate that this article attempts to take a scientific approach, and takes on something of a scientific and well-researched air about it - its more than many people attempt to do. And I even agree wholeheartedly with the idea of "lets question what we know"

But I'll be honest: this is not well supported, and has many problems. Reading objectively, and setting aside my own opinions on the concept and reacting only to the science she presents, I could write a thesis eviscerating this article. I've deleted and retyped so many times, I've concluded I can sum her articles point up in two statements:

They are having problems in our care because they aren't granivores. We're feeding them too much grain. [I'm sorry, this is garbage]

Also:

They are adapted to low nutrient diet in the wild it would seem, lets accept that as fact. but lets ignore that it is established fact that intestinal length is indeed related to nutrient absorption, and while we're at it lets ignore the most basic biological concept of Form Fits Function , and we're going to say that a key adaptation to their survival on low nutrient diet likely a mirage.

Not to mention the several outright inaccuracies she presents here, such as "most parrots are granivores", which couldn't be farther from the truth. And the idea that in order to compare interspecific measurements on gut length they have to be on the same diet is completely fallacious

I'm sorry, this article really isn't worth very much at all. All kudos to the author for the attempt to synthesize the information, more than most of us have tried to do! But it was done so rather poorly.
 
Last edited:

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top