FEMALE OF THE SPECIES ECLECTUS PARROT

Lucy Cooke on the flamboyance of the female eclectus parrot

- Lucy

Few birds have puzzled scientists more than the eclectus parrot (Ecelctus roratus). The legendary evolutionary biologist Bill Hamilton used to show a slide of two eclectus parrots in his lectures: one crimson with a cobalt bib, the other green. They were male and female, but not as you’d expect. In most sexually dimorphic birds the male is the colourful character – ornamentation being an indicator of his fitness – and the female drab. But with the eclectus parrot, the female is the scarlet show pony and the male more camouflaged. Hamilton would finish his talks proclaiming that once he understood why the birds were red and green, he’d be “ready to die”.