echo parakeet
Mauritius parakeet
psittacula echo latin

The echo parakeet?

As for the echo parakeets, at least one of them has died since we saw them, though some of the others have been attempting to breed.

Bird-watchers should keep an eye out for the Mauritius kestrel, pink pigeon, echo parakeet and Mauritius cuckoo-shrike.

However, there are conservation efforts being made, such as those for Australia's orange-bellied parrot, the pink pigeon and the echo parakeet (the latter two both of Mauritius).

The Mauritius Parakeet (Psittacula echo), also known as Echo Parakeet, is the only extant parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands in the southern Indian Ocean.

Durrell is also working to save critically endangered species such as the Pink Pigeon, Echo Parakeet, Round Island Boa (Casarea dussumieri) and Mauritius Fody.

The Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary in the Black River Valley in Mauritius, is the home of the Mauritius Wildlife Appeal Fund's immensely successful captive breeding programme for the Mauritius Kestrel, Pink Pigeon and Echo Parakeet.

The Mauritius Parakeet is one of the most remarkable successes of wildlife conservation.

The Mauritius Parakeet seemed doomed to extinction.

Taxonomists are unsure if the birds were a distinct species, or conspecific with the Mauritius Parakeet.

Of the about eight endemic Mascarene parrot species, all but one, the Mauritius Parakeet, have gone extinct.

They identified more than two dozen birds, including the California condor and the Mauritius parakeet, that would probably have become extinct sometime after 1994 without intervention.

The Mauritius kestrel, Mauritius parakeet and pink pigeon all came close to extinction but are now increasing thanks to intensive conservation efforts.

Subfossils show that its beak was about 30% longer than that of the sympatric Mauritius Parakeet, and that it had a comparatively broad bill.

Its taxonomy is under question, with some considering it a distinct species, while others considering it to be conspecfic with the Mauritius Parakeet.

Of the eight or so parrot species endemic to the Mascarenes, only the Mauritius Parakeet (Psittacula echo) has survived.

BirdLife International (2007b): Mauritius Parakeet - BirdLife Species Factsheet.

The Mauritius Parakeet (Psittacula echo), also known as Echo Parakeet, is the only extant parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands in the southern Indian Ocean.

Even in that case, ancient DNA analysis of this specimen will give new insight into these questions, because very little data exists on the genetic diversity of the Mauritius Parakeet in former times.

Recognizing that the Mauritius Parakeet was not acutely threatened with extinction anymore but "merely" very rare, it is downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered in the 2007 IUCN Red List.

A phylogenetic analysis using DNA (see Psittacula) showed that the Mauritius Parakeet (Psittacula echo) is closely related to this species, and probably needs to be placed between the African and Asian subspecies.

However, it is found in the Red-breasted Parakeet, the Derbyan Parakeet and the Nicobar Parakeet which are morphologically dissimilar and apparently very closely related among each other, though not to the Mauritius Parakeet or its immediate relatives.