Geophagy in two parrot species in southern Pantanal, Brazil

Abstract

Geophagy is a habit recorded for parrots, which seek earthy or soil-like substances presumably to help them in digestive functions, whether mechanical or chemical ones. Few studies are devoted to this feeding peculiarity in the Pantanal region. Here are reported two events of geophagy, for the Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) and the Nanday Parakeet (Aratinga nenday) in the Pantanal subregions of the Miranda-Abobral and Nhecolândia, Mato Grosso do Sul, respectively.