Biology
The Carolina Parakeet's habitats were forests along rivers, with large hollow trees to use as roosting and nesting sites. It mostly ate the seeds of forest shrubs and other plants (such as thistles) and also ate fruits (often from orchards by the time of its decline).
Carolina Parakeets were probably poisonous—John James Audubon noted that cats apparently died from eating them, and they are known to have eaten the toxic seeds of cockleburs.
According to a study of mitochondrial DNA recovered from museum specimens, their closest living relatives include the Sun Parakeet, the Golden-capped Parakeet, and the Nanday Parakeet.
Read more about this topic: Carolina Parakeet
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