A parrot missing half his beak is top bird at New Zealand’s Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. The parrot, named Bruce, wins every fight with other kea parrots and gets priority access to food, researchers report April 20 in Current Biology. The finding challenges assumptions about how disability influences dominance in animal societies and shows that innovative behaviors can outweigh physical disadvantage.
Willowbank’s kea parrots live in a large aviary with trees and a stream. When visitors stop by, they often fail to notice the birds snoozing among the leaves. But when they spot Bruce, they always make the same comment, says Alex Grabham, a behavioral ecologist at the University of