Populations of wild African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) are declining rapidly driven by the removal of individuals for the pet trade and accelerated habitat destruction and fragmentation. African Greys are currently listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red list and are on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits all trade in wild-caught individuals. The demand for these parrots in the pet trade can, however, be met through legal trade in captive-bred birds. Determining which birds are captive-bred is often challenging. Genetic techniques have recently become established as a valuable tool in providing accurate information on the paternity of any offspring produced in captivity. Another advantage of using molecular data is that genotypes can also be used for measuring the genetic diversity and degree of relatedness within the captive population to prevent inbreeding. In this study, we test the utility of a suite of previously published microsatellite markers as a molecular tool for parentage analysis. The panel of 11 loci was found to have sufficient discriminatory power to be used in parentage assignment. In this study we present a set of markers that can be used with confidence to determine if a bird has been bred from captive parents and so can be legally traded. These molecular markers were also tested for use on low amounts of DNA extracted from feathers to aid law enforcement authorities to better control legal and illegal trade of this endangered parrot species.

野生非洲灰鹦鹉（Psittacus erithacus）的种群）由于宠物交易的撤离以及栖息地的破坏和破碎加速而迅速下降。非洲灰人目前在IUCN红色名录中被列为濒危物种，并且在CITES附录I中被禁止使用，该公约禁止所有野生捕捞个体的交易。但是，宠物贸易中对这些鹦鹉的需求可以通过圈养繁殖鸟类的合法贸易来满足。确定哪些鸟会被圈养通常是一项挑战。遗传技术最近已被确立为提供有关圈养所产生的任何后代的父系的准确信息的有价值的工具。使用分子数据的另一个优势是，基因型还可用于测量圈养种群内的遗传多样性和相关程度，以防止近交。在这个研究中，我们测试了一套先前发布的微卫星标记作为亲子分析的分子工具的效用。发现由11个基因座组成的小组具有足够的歧视能力，可用于亲子分配。在这项研究中，我们提出了一组标记，可以放心地使用它们来确定鸟类是否是从圈养父母那里繁殖出来的，因此可以合法交易。还对这些分子标记物进行了测试，以用于从羽毛中提取的少量DNA，以帮助执法部门更好地控制这种濒临灭绝的鹦鹉物种的合法和非法贸易。在这项研究中，我们提出了一组标记，可以放心地使用它们来确定鸟类是否是从圈养父母那里繁殖出来的，因此可以合法交易。还对这些分子标记物进行了测试，以用于从羽毛中提取的少量DNA，以帮助执法部门更好地控制这种濒临灭绝的鹦鹉物种的合法和非法贸易。在这项研究中，我们提出了一组标记，可以放心地使用它们来确定鸟类是否是从圈养父母那里繁殖出来的，因此可以合法交易。还对这些分子标记物进行了测试，以用于从羽毛中提取的少量DNA，以帮助执法部门更好地控制这种濒临灭绝的鹦鹉物种的合法和非法贸易。