How many different breeds of parrots are there?
If you’re asking about species of parrots, the Ornithological Council says that there are 358 species and 80 genera in the order Psittaciformes, which includes “true” parrots, cockatoos and their relatives, lories and their relatives, and the primitive-looking parrots endemic to New Zealand. The exact number of species and how many are assigned to any order, family, or genus depends on who and when you ask, because our ideas about where one species ends and another begins and the relationships among the various taxonomic groups are constantly evolving as we learn more about life on earth. If you’re asking about breeds and varieties of domesticated and semi-domesticated parrots such as budgerigars, cockatiels and lovebirds, I suspect that number would run into the hundreds and be rising all the time as artificial selection stabilizes new mutations.
