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https://theconversation.com/our-mysterious-night-parrot-has-terrible-vision-but-we-discovered-it-might-be-able-to-hear-like-an-owl-200058>
"One bird bucks the stereotype of Australia’s raucous parrots – the mysterious
and critically endangered night parrot (
Pezoporus occidentalis). Rather than
flying around in noisy flocks or eating fruit in trees, the night parrot roosts
all day in a clump of sharp spinifex grass. When darkness falls, it scurries
about on the ground to forage, almost like a little rodent.
For eight decades, we thought it might be extinct. But then, in 2013, it was
photographed. Now we know this vanishingly rare nocturnal bird still lives in
parts of the remote outback.
Because it’s so rare, it’s very hard to study. In our work in palaeontology, we
recently identified some fossil leg bones as probably belonging to the night
parrot. Because there were no modern skeletons to compare them with, we had to
CT-scan a museum specimen.
What we intended to do was compare the leg anatomy to our fossil leg bones. But
then we found something bizarre. The night parrot’s skull was wonky and the
ears were asymmetrical. Predatory owls have this too, as a way to boost their
hearing and hunt better. But why would a seed-eating parrot need superb
hearing?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
