Breeding birds in captivity may alter their wing shapes and reduce post-release survival chances

The total population of orange-bellied parrots once dropped as low as 17 in the wild, but their numbers have been bolstered in recent years by captive breeding and release efforts in Tasmania and Victoria.

Study author Dr Dejan Stojanovic, of the Australian National University, said there was natural variation in wing feather lengths in both wild and captive-bred orange-bellied parrots.

Stojanovic has previously shown that captive-bred orange-bellied parrots tend to have less pointed and shorter wings than their wild counterparts.

The research was published in the journal Ecology Letters.