Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: neilep on 31/07/2007 20:02:17
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This is Tom.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Faction%3Ddlattach%3Btopic%3D8975.0%3Battach%3D473%3Bimage&hash=5b0a45f590ab296a8de0c2da480ffb8e)
Nice isn't he ?...notice how standing up on a perch he is ?
I have been able to study Tom during the early/late hours and I have noticed that he does not lay on the ground , tuck himself in and go to sleep.
He seems to stay on his perch all the time (no..he's not glued there !!, stapled or nailed there)
So, how does Tom sleep ?....In the wild ...would he have a nest to chill out and lay in ?
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I've looked at our birds while they're asleep on their perches and wondered the same thing.
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Tom sleeps standing up with eyes closed dreaming of the day he will escape and fly free with his feathery relatives.
The reason i believe why he can stayed perched is because his feet have a special reflex action which causes them to automatically curl tightly around his perch once weight is applied from above.
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Also, I believe I read recently that birds have more of their brain (in proportion to its size) associated with maintaining balance than almost any class of animal (I imagine this is required for flight, but would serve to maintain balance while perched).
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Hi everyone
I’ve been browsing through old questions and stopped on this one because I know the answer. Yes I do. Honest.
Budgerigars are passerines, ie they belong to the taxonomic order of Passeriformes, or ‘perching birds’. He’s not rare in so far as most birds in the world are passerines. You may have noticed that Tom’s ‘knee’ bends backwards. In fact it’s not his knee it’s his heel. A bird’s foot is made from just his toes in much the same way that a dog’s is.
Tom’s foot has two thin flexor tendons which, significantly, run from the back of his upper leg (ie above the backwards bending ‘knee’) right down to the underside of the toes. This means that as he bends his leg his toes curl! This means that when he’s relaxed on his perch his toes lock around the perch keeping him from falling off.
You may have noticed that garden birds (which are virtually all passerines) tend to jump off their perch and into flight. Most people assume that this is to give birds a head start with getting airborne but, in fact, this is to straighten the knee to allow their grip to release.
An unrelated anecdote:
When I was a teenager I had an aviary full of budgies. They got an infection of mites called French Moult which caused all their feathers to drop out and which I just could not clear. They looked like little oven-ready chickens! In an effort to take flight they would climb up the sides of the aviary and then launch themselves from about 2.5 metres and splat on the concrete below. In winter they started to freeze so my Mum knitted some little woolen budgie coats to keep them warm and, so that they could recognize each other, she knitted them in the same colours as their missing plumage!
Actually, talking of oven ready chickens, the name ‘budgerigar’ comes from the aborigine words ‘betcheri gard’ which means ‘good eating’. When Tom gets boring just bung him in the oven on Gas Mark 9 and wait for the flapping to stop. Perfect on a piece of toast while watching CSI.
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Horses also sleep standing up. The fact that their legs 'lock' so they don't crumple when relaxed explains why they don't fall down but it doesn't explain how their heads don't dangle down to the ground. I have never understood this.
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That's simple. Horses use invisible pixies who support their heads at night. In return horses have little gold nuggets in their poo. We never see the nuggets because the pixies get there first. By the way, all pixies are called Eric - even the girls.
I know this is true because I once saw them while I was out looking for magic mushrooms. Or was it after I ate the mushrooms? I forget, now.
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That's simple. Horses use invisible pixies who support their heads at night. In return horses have little gold nuggets in their poo. We never see the nuggets because the pixies get there first. By the way, all pixies are called Eric - even the girls.
I know this is true because I once saw them while I was out looking for magic mushrooms. Or was it after I ate the mushrooms? I forget, now.
Lol...Neil..you and your fairy pixie stories always crack me up...hee hee hee....
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Errr... that was John Chapman. [:)]
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Oh Dear....................
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Wot? Has Neil seen the pixies too?
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Karen is lucky.
She must have Forum Fluffy Fairies living nearby.
They love to congregate underneath printers and drink lemonade ! (very much like the Underprinter Dustbunnies I once described here) One can often hear them playing and burping and most certainly giggling. Libraries are aware of them all the time because libraries are quiet. This is all true by the way.
Anyway, every day they congregate underneath your printer and sneak out when you're not looking and often play hide and seek in the gaps between the keys on the keyboard. If they have partaken of too much lemonade they can become wedged between the keys until they do a bottom burp. It's on this rare occasion that they may come into contact with the circuit beneath the key and it may be seen that words have been typed by your good self when in fact they have not. Because they are very translucent they are difficult to see but if your keyboard is infected then typing quickly may serve to release them. Be cautious though, fast type-rs will tickle the Forum Fluffy Fairies releasing many bottom burps. Some people mistake the aroma for the morning dew or the smell you get after a rainstorm....it's quite nice actually.
Fact is, they love to read forums. If you partake a lot in on-line forums then there is good chance that you have been " infected"....just leave them a marshmallow and a sugar cube and they will be filled with joy and glee.
It was in 1725 that the Earl Of Qwertshire wrote in his diary :
" I did partake of my daily duty and whilst choosing the vernacular of the missive that I doth inscribe I perchance to forsee a quaint elflike troll with wings and a grimace that bring forth joy with a loquacious stomach exhalation. There was not but one, but a cacophony of many such gleeful creatures "
This seems to be the first recorded event of such beings.
This is all true.