Parrots have cognitive abilities comparable to a 5-year-old human and suffer severely in understimulating captive environments.
Captive parrots face chronic welfare challenges from understimulation, inadequate space, and social isolation. Feather plucking often begins from boredom, frustration, or lack of social interaction and can become compulsive. Parrots kept alone without human interaction for most of the day develop psychological abnormalities. The intelligence that makes parrots fascinating companions makes them highly vulnerable to the boredom of captive life. Most cages sold commercially are inadequate for any parrot species.