Data from: Parrots consume sodium-rich palms in the sodium-deprived landscape of the Western Amazon Basin

Herbivorous animals face shortages of different minerals in different
geographic areas. In the Amazon basin, sodium is often limiting, driving
herbivores to seek supplemental sources. In the lowlands of the western
Amazon basin, parrots commonly consume sodium-rich soils at clay licks but
lick use varies widely among species and to date, parrots in the region
have not been reported consuming other supplemental sodium sources. We
document 11 species of psittacines consuming sodium-rich leaves and trunks
of Attalea butyracea palms growing on sodium-rich soils in lowland Peru.
Consumed palms had more sodium and less potassium than uneaten A.
butyracea palms and other palm species in the area. Among A. butyracea
palm parts, sodium and Na:K ratios were highest in trunks (consumed by
parrots in 91% of the 721 foraging bouts recorded) and lowest in leaves
(consumed in only 14% of foraging bouts). The low potassium and high Na:K
ratio suggest that birds may be seeking not just any sodium sources, but
those low in potassium, as potassium is known to exacerbate dietary sodium
shortages. Use of the palms and species’ abundances in the study area were
not correlated. Instead, parrot species that consumed palms the most were
those that use relatively few traditional soil clay licks. This finding
suggests that parrot species in the region have fundamental differences in
preferred strategies for obtaining supplemental sodium and may help
explain documented interspecific differences in geophagy. .