Broad-billed Parrot

The Broad-billed Parrot or Raven Parrot (Lophopsittacus mauritianus) is a large extinct parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. It is unclear what species it is most closely related to, but it has been classified as a member of the tribe Psittaculini, along with other Mascarene parrots.

The Broad-billed Parrot's head was large in proportion to its body, and there was a distinct crest of feathers on the front of the head. The bird had a very large beak, comparable in size to that of the Hyacinth Macaw, which would have enabled it to crack hard seeds. Subfossil bones indicate that the species exhibited greater sexual dimorphism in overall size and head size than any living parrot. The exact colouration is unknown, but a contemporary description indicates that it had a blue head, a greyish or blackish body, and perhaps a red beak. It is believed to have been a weak flier, but not flightless.

The Broad-billed Parrot was first referred to as the "Indian Raven" in Dutch ships' journals from 1598 onwards. Only a handful of brief contemporary descriptions and three depictions are known. It was first scientifically described from a subfossil mandible in 1866, but this was not linked to the old accounts until the rediscovery of a detailed 1601 sketch that matched both descriptions. The bird became extinct in the 17th century owing to a combination of deforestation, predation by introduced invasive species, and probably also because of hunting by humans.