There are a mere 1 000 Cape Parrots left in the wild, and the forests where they live are fast disappearing. Flying the Cape Parrot flag high at SciFest 2005 will be Professor Mike Perrin from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Perrin is professor of zoology in the school of biological and conservation services as well as being the director of the Research Centre for African Parrot Conservation (RCAPC) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
‘Preventing illegal trade boils down to identifying individual birds and their paternity and kinship,†said Perrin. ‘This is because illegally captured wild chicks can be traded as the progeny of non-reproductive captive birds.
‘The only way to identify the illegal trade is by using DNA fingerprinting. But first, we had to study the ecology of the Cape Parrot, to recognise it as a separate and endemic species.â€
Perrin said that he chose to do research about the Cape Parrot as they are colourful and charismatic, and are threatened by a range of problems symptomatic of many endangered species globally.
He said that 10 years ago, two birds used to cost R500 but now they are worth about R50 000.
The birds are only common in two locations in this country, in the afromontane yellowwood forests of the Natal Midlands and in the Eastern Cape. ‘Most parrots are frugivorous and therefore dependent on a fruit, which means that their distribution is largely tropical and sub-tropical,†said Perrin.
Perrin said that the RCAPC is the leading researcher on the African continent and that this research is the first of its kind.
He also supervises postgraduate student research in Southern Africa.
Professor Mike Perrin’s lecture takes place on March 20 at the Monument Olive Schreiner Hall at 3.30pm