Granatosky Michael C, Young Melody W, Herr Victoria, Chai Chloe, Raidah Anisa, Kairo Judy Njeri, Anaekwe Adaeze, Havens Allison, Zou Bettina, Ding Billy, Chen Christopher, De Leon David, Shah Harshal, Valentin Jordan, Hildreth Lucas, Castro Taylor, Li Timothy, Yeung Andy, Dickinson Edwin, Youlatos Dionisios
Department of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA.
Center for Biomedical Innovation, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Sep 11;12(18):2372. doi: 10.3390/ani12182372.
Positional behaviors have been broadly quantified across the Order Primates, and in several other mammalian lineages, to contextualize adaptations to, and evolution within, an arboreal environment. Outside of Mammalia, however, such data are yet to be reported. In this study, we present the first quantitative report of positional behavior within Aves, presenting 11,246 observations of scan sampling data from a colony of Monk Parakeets () from Brooklyn, New York City. Each scan recorded locomotor and postural behavior and information about weather condition, temperature, and substrate properties (e.g., type, size, orientation). A distinction was also recorded between natural and artificial substrates. Parrots exhibited a strong preference for small and terminal branches, a selection which may reflect targeted foraging of new fruit growth and leaf-buds. We further observed that the gait transition from walking to sidling appears primarily driven by substrate size, with the former preferred on the ground and on large, broad substrates and the latter used to navigate smaller branches. Finally, we observed an increase in locomotor diversity on artificial versus naturally occurring substrates. This demonstrates the importance of a flexible behavioral repertoire in facilitating a successful transition towards an urban landscape in introduced species.
灵长目动物以及其他一些哺乳动物谱系中的位置行为已得到广泛量化，以便将其对树栖环境的适应及在该环境中的进化情况置于具体情境中。然而，在哺乳纲之外，此类数据尚未见报道。在本研究中，我们首次给出了鸟类位置行为的定量报告，呈现了来自纽约市布鲁克林一群和尚鹦鹉（）的11246次扫描取样数据观测结果。每次扫描记录了运动和姿势行为以及有关天气状况、温度和底物特性（如类型、大小、方向）的信息。同时还记录了天然底物和人工底物之间的差异。鹦鹉对小树枝和末梢树枝表现出强烈偏好，这种选择可能反映了对新果实生长和叶芽的定向觅食。我们还进一步观察到，从行走步态转变为侧身步态似乎主要由底物大小驱动，前者在地面和大而宽的底物上更受青睐，而后者则用于在较小的树枝上移动。最后，我们观察到在人工底物与天然底物上运动多样性有所增加。这表明灵活的行为模式对于促进外来物种成功向城市景观过渡具有重要意义。
