麻豆传媒

In 2013, things were looking bleak for a malnourished, undersized parrot who was missing half his beak and struggling to survive in the wilds of Arthur鈥檚 Pass in New Zealand鈥檚 South Island.

Then, says at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, one of her students came across the struggling kea (Nestor notabilis). The bird had lost the upper part of its beak, probably due to trauma. Because the kea is classified as an endangered species, the student decided to bring him into captivity.

Little did anyone know that this was a decision that would change the bird鈥檚 life and thrust greatness upon him.

The carers at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, New Zealand, named the bird Kati, assuming that such a small parrot must have been a female. That assumption also made sense because it was the top half of the beak that the bird lacked. The upper beak is huge in male kea, and used for digging. It looks 鈥渓ike it could bite your finger off鈥�, says Nelson.

But a DNA test revealed that Kati was actually male, so the parrot was given a new name: Bruce 鈥� 鈥渢he silliest name we could think of鈥�, says Nelson.

This wasn鈥檛 the only surprise. Bruce is one of nine males and three females held at Willowbank. But in spite of his beak, he quickly asserted himself as the alpha male in the 鈥榗ircus鈥� 鈥� the collective name for a group of kea.

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The key to Bruce鈥檚 success was that, without the top half of his beak, he could use the bottom portion as a weapon.

Nelson says it is not just bluffing on Bruce鈥檚 part, as his lower beak is 鈥渧ery straight and sharp and can be used to joust the other birds鈥�.

The other males, most of which are over a kilogram and outweigh the 800-gram Bruce, can鈥檛 respond in kind because their upper mandibles cover their lower beaks.

鈥淪o even if they tried headbutting another bird, it would just be a blunt rounded curve that would hit them,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淲hereas Bruce pushes himself so fast forward against another bird that he kind of topples over.鈥�

She adds that it鈥檚 鈥渁 serious jab, and the other birds really don鈥檛 like it. I mean, when he does that, they鈥檙e just wings in the air, jumping back as fast as possible.鈥�

Out of 162 aggressive interactions recorded between all the male birds over a total of four weeks, Bruce always came out on top, winning each of the 36 interactions in which he took part.

He also maintained absolute control and priority over the four feeding stations in the birds鈥� enclosure and even co-opted lower-status birds to help clean his lower beak and preen him 鈥� something none of the other captive birds did.

The team then wanted to see what kind of toll Bruce鈥檚 dominance was taking on the males fighting for their place in the hierarchy. They found that Bruce鈥檚 stress hormones levels were by far the lowest, seemingly, because his alpha status was so secure, he only had to display aggression a fraction of the times required of the other males.

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The team says, with the exception of humans, Bruce provides the first example of a severely injured animal 鈥渋ndividually achieving and maintaining alpha male status through behavioural innovation alone鈥�.

They also say he is living proof that a difference is not always a disadvantage, and that it proved unnecessary to repair his beak with a prosthetic.

鈥淚 really like Bruce, actually,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淲hen there is reason to fight, yeah, he鈥檒l fight and he鈥檒l fight hard, and scrappy. But he鈥檚 not a bully.鈥�