Unusual Characteristics
In addition to their appearance they possess aspects of their physiology that make them completely unique amongst parrots. Vasa chicks are known to hatch after only 18–20 days of incubation, which is highly irregular as parrots of the vasa size range tend to take up to 30 days to hatch.
The male vasas' cloaca is able to invert into a hemipenis, which becomes erect during mating - a feature unique to the genus. This phallus is associated with prolonged matings enforced by a copulatory tie. Baby vasas possess pads on their beaks which when stimulated prompt a strong feeding response. These pads disappear after only a few weeks, however the feeding or 'weaning' reflex remains unusually strong well into adulthood. Often aviculturalists have to use a syringe to force food into the crops of young vasas as the intensity of the weaning reflex prevents them from being spoon fed.
Vasa parrots infected with the debilitating psittacine beak and feather disease are known to turn white, which, during the 1970s when the first wave of birds were exported into Europe and America, resulted in them being mistakenly advertised by importers as albinos.
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