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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A ‘forbidden’ body type? These parrots flout the rules

Climbing parrots put their heads to use as a third limb.
Peach-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) pair mating in nest hole in rock cliff, Waterberg Plateau Park, Namibia.

Rosy-faced lovebirds can exert as much force with their beaks while climbing as climbing humans exert with their arms. Credit: Michael & Patricia Fogden/Nature Picture Library

Parrots use their heads to propel themselves while climbing — an acrobatic feat that has not been witnessed in any other creature1.

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Nature 605, 592 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01354-2

References

  1. Young, M. W., Dickinson, E., Flaim N. D. & Granatosky, M. C. Proc. R. Soc. B https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0245 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Thomson, T. J. BioEssays 41, 1900061 (2019).

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