Parrots Swinging By Their Beaks From Perch To Perch Are ‘Beakiating’
There’s brachiating, where a primate swings from perch to perch using its arms, and now there’s beakiating, where a parrot shuffles along a twig using their feet and beak
A Peach-faced Lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis, also known as the Rosy-faced Lovebird, dangling from grass stems. Once again, these small parrots are showing scientists how they move around. (Credit: David González Romero / CC BY 2.0)
If you’ve lived with parrots all of your life, then you are no doubt familiar with the variety of methods they use to get from place to place. One such method that is now getting attention from scientists is a method they’ve named “beakiation”. This method of moving from branch to branch (or along one thin branch or even along a grass stem) by alternately using their beak and feet was named in honor of brachyation, a method that primates use to move in trees by swinging from branch to branch using their arms.
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