Study: Parrots use their head as a third limb

In a study conducted at New York Tech College of Osteopathic Medicine

Institute (NYITCOM), scientists have shown that parrots use their head as a third limb during movement.

The researchers designed a series of experiments in whichwhich parrots climbed on an artificial vertical platform located at an angle from 0 to 90 degrees. Two high-speed cameras recorded their movement, and a small force plate attached to the back of the podium measured the force exerted by the beak, hind limbs, and tail as each body part made contact with the podium.

The beaks of parrots first came into contact with the support whenlifting at an angle of 45 degrees, and when lifting at an angle of 90 degrees, they created forces comparable to those created by the hind limbs. In fact, the force generated by the head of parrots was equal to or greater than the force that creates the limbs of humans or other large primates during lifting. In contrast, the tails of the birds generated minimal force, suggesting that the tail is used simply for support and not as an additional limb.

“Parrots are the only birds that usehead as a third limb. This behavior appears to have required neuromuscular changes over time, including neck flexors that generate additional force, and modifications to spinal neural circuits,” the researchers noted.

“Although young pandas have been known to shake their heads,when climbing vertical surfaces, giving the impression that the head is being used as a limb, it does not come into contact with the surface. The use of the head as a propulsive limb is an evolutionary novelty that, as far as we know, only exists in parrots,” the researchers note.

This project is the first step in a series of studieson the locomotor behavior of parrots. Over the next few years, scientists will work to understand the anatomical and neuromuscular underpinnings of parrots' unusual locomotor behavior in order to develop bioinspired robotic systems that mimic this movement.

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