Sexual behaviour and affiliative social interactions

Allopreening: this consists of one bird preening the feathers of another (often mutually). Allopreening can be solicited by one parrot lowering its head, facing the other bird.

Allofeeding: one bird (usually the dominant one) gives food to another by regurgitating into its bill. Head bobbing precedes allofeeding. This behaviour helps the couple maintain the pair-bond and is not merely sexually motivated.

Ambivalent sexual behaviour: two males or two females can live as quite a harmonious couple. One of the birds therefore gains the dominant position and the other bird the submissive one. Such a couple usually allopreen, allofeed and even sometimes try to copulate.

Time of intraspecific neutral behaviour: this is the period between the end of the chicks' rearing and the next mating-period. Birds have much less social interaction with other members of the flock during that period. Aggressions are less intense and sexual interactions can scarcely be observed (Zander, 1976 in Lantermann, 1999).

Social groups of subadult birds: grey parrots already live in social groups before their sexual maturity. A kind of pre-partnership can be observed, in which the juveniles perch in contact and allopreen. Those bonds are hardly sexually motivated and can be seen between two males or two females, even when there are enough birds of both sexes among the juveniles (Lantermann, 1999).

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