tags: budgerigar, pets, birds, documentary, streaming video
This is a video of a very strange budgerigar. Apparently the result of a mutation, the bird's plumage is extraordinarily downy and long, so much so that it is almost impossible to see the bird's face (downy feathers are due to a mutation that causes a condition known as "neotenty"; where an adult animal takes on juvenile characteristics) [0:53]
GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 




















Comments
Ahhh what a silly looking budgie! Good find, Grrl.
Posted by: Arikia | December 11, 2008 2:04 PM
Breeders call them 'dusters'. They don't usually live very long =(
Posted by: Carrie Burrows | December 11, 2008 2:59 PM