why do Amazons have certain physical characteristics?

[zoloft]

Short tail: To prevent predators from easily catching it with a long tail. They have evolved shorter tail.

Green body: To camoflauge against trees



This must mean current amazon's ancestors must have had a lot of predators? What animals in the wild eat parrots?
Do you make any other evolution observatiosn?

 

[weco]

Cats, dogs, coyotes, racoons, lynx, wolves, ocelot, bears, jaguars, monkeys, crocodile, rattlesnake, boa constrictor, rats, fox, weasel, margay, ferrets, owls, eagles, hawks.....probably more, but those were just off the top of my head.....oh, add humans.....native peoples regularly eat parrots, even protected ones.....

 

[MonicaMc]

I remember reading something that mentioned that South American parrots don't have a lot of natural predators, thus many can afford to be brightly colored birds - i.e. scarlet macaws.

Although, even the brightly colored parrots that you'd expect to be easy to see in a tree can easily be camouflaged within the branches, leaves and shadows of the tree.

Considering the "hidden colors" of amazons (when they flail their tail feathers and wings) may actually point to a predatory past - these birds only appear brightly colored when displaying or when in flight. (they are also smaller than the large, brightly colored macaws)

Parrots: The Animal Answer Guide - Chapter 3; Parrot colors
What Eats Parrots? - What are the major predators on parrots in the wild?
Longo's Aviaries - Coloration of Parrots and its Role in Natural Selection

Here's a topic asking why macaws are brightly colored (which ran into other species, too) on another (dead) forum. (couple of the links above are from this thread)
Why are they colored so brightly? - BirdBoard

Having a short tail could also be an adaptation to how they nest.

 

[Abdulla]

Hi,

In my opinion Amazons specially BF have a long tail if you compare it with others (African greys and cockatoos) ...

Best Regards,

 

[wjgonzalez]

Sexual selection: Sexual selection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many predators are color blind, at least at certain frequencies, especially "red." Birds are better at "seeing" the longer wave lengths (ie., red).