The bald parrot is a species that lacks any head feathers — apart from some sparse bristles. Endemic to the east-central Amazon, its baldness might be an adaptation for eating fruit without getting its feathers sticky.

From early sightings, the bald parrot was thought to be the juvenile stage of another species — perhaps a young [vulturine parrot](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/73326-Pyrilia-vulturina) (a slightly-less-bald parrot).  In 1999, some "immature" parrots were caught and examined, and were found to have fully developed skulls and gonads; meaning they weren't immature at all, but an entirely separate species. Some young birds go bald during an awkward feather moult, some go bald from disease or mites or stress-induced feather pulling. The bald parrot is just bald, perpetually.  Why? Why of all the \~400 parrot species are the bald and vulturine parrots the only ones with naturally featherless heads? One hypothesis posits that it's so they can eat fruit without getting sticky pulp stuck in their head feathers. Or maybe the bare skin helps them cool down in their balmy rainforest homes. It could also be the result of sexual selection. Perhaps it's the sum of all three.  **You can learn more about this parrot, and other bald birds, on** [**my website here!**](https://www.curiousspecies.com/my-species/bald-parrot) *\**[*Pesquet's parrot*](https://ebird.org/species/pespar1)*, also known as the vulturine or Dracula parrot, does show some facial skin, but it isn't bald.*