Beakiation: how a novel parrot gait expands the locomotor repertoire of living birds

Abstract

Occupation of arboreal habitats poses myriad locomotor challenges, driving both anatomical and behavioural innovations across various tetrapod lineages. Here, we report and biomechanically assess a novel, beak-driven locomotor mode—‘beakiation’—by which parrots advance along the underside of narrow arboreal substrates. Using high-speed videography and kinetic analyses, we describe the limb loading patterns and pendular mechanics of beakiation, and compare the biomechanical characteristics of this gait with other suspensory behaviours (namely, forelimb-driven brachiation and inverted quadrupedal walking). We report that the parrot beak experiences comparable force magnitudes (approx. 150% body weight in the normal plane; approx. 50% body weight in the fore–aft plane) to the forelimbs of brachiating primates. Parrot beakiation is also characterized by longer-than-expected pendular periods, similar to observations of gibbon brachiation. However, in terms of mechanical energy recovery, beakiation is typified by lower levels of energetic recovery than brachiating specialists: a product of its slower, more careful nature. The observation of this novel behaviour—which adds to a growing base of literature regarding beak-assisted locomotor strategies in birds—highlights the extraordinary behavioural plasticity of birds, the functional versatility of the avian beak, and the difficulties in reconstructing an animal’s locomotor repertoire from morphological characteristics alone.