A seven-year-old budgerigar named Mame performed a circus-like act by balancing and rotating on a ball inside a room [1].
The display highlights the intersection of avian instinct and physical capability. While the performance appears as a trick, biological drivers explain why the bird engages in such specific movements.
The footage, which aired on May 15 [2], shows Mame jumping onto the ball and maintaining stability while the object rotates. The behavior drew the attention of Kazusō Ebisawa, director of the Yokohama Bird Hospital and an avian expert [1].
Ebisawa said the bird is treating the ball as if it were a female bird and is engaging in courtship behavior [3]. This instinctual drive leads the bird to mount the object, which in this case is a spherical ball.
Beyond the social drive, the performance is possible due to the innate physical traits of the species. Ebisawa said budgerigars possess an excellent sense of balance, noting that they are capable of remaining perched on swaying branches in nature [3].
This combination of courtship instinct and high-level coordination allows Mame to navigate the unstable surface of the ball without falling. The event was featured on the "Shinichi Hatori Morning Show" to illustrate these unique avian behaviors [2].
“The bird is treating the ball as if it were a female bird and is engaging in courtship behavior.”
This behavior demonstrates how domestic pets can transpose natural instincts, such as courtship and foraging balance, onto artificial household objects. It underscores the evolutionary adaptation of budgerigars to unstable environments, which allows them to maintain equilibrium on moving surfaces.
