Pecking is the action of a
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
using their
beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...
to search for food or otherwise investigate an object or area by tapping it. Pecking can also be used by a bird to attack or fight another bird.
Pecking is frequently observed in
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
s and other
poultry
Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...
, and in
pigeons.
[Harris Philip Zeigler, Ralf Jäger, and Adrian G. Palacios, "Sensorimotor mechanisms and pecking in the pigeon", in Harris Philip Zeigler and Hans-Joachim Bischof, ''Vision, Brain, and Behavior in Birds'' (1993), p. 265.] Pecking is typically accomplished by movement of the
neck
The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...
.
Certain birds, particularly
woodpeckers, engage in a specialized kind of pecking, using their beak to drill holes in
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
s in order to find insects under the
bark
Bark may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick
* Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...
. Woodpeckers also engage in a kind of pecking called drumming, a less-forceful type of pecking that serves to establish territory and attract mates.
Woodpeckers drum on various reverberatory structures on buildings such as gutters, downspouts, chimneys, vents and aluminium sheeting.
The phrase,
pecking order, referring to the
hierarchical system of social organization was coined by
Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe in 1921, in reference to the expression of dominance in
chickens by behaviors including pecking. Schjelderup-Ebbe noted in his 1924 German-language article that "defense and aggression in the hen is accomplished with the
beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...
". This emphasis on pecking led many subsequent studies on fowl behaviour to use it as a primary observation, however, it has been noted that
rooster
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
s tend to leap and use their claws in conflicts.
[Rajecki, D.W. (1988). Formation of leap orders in pairs of male domestic chickens. Aggressive Behavior, 14(6): 425-436.]
References
See also
*
Feather pecking
*
Toe pecking
*
Vent pecking
* {{multi-section link, dunnock, Breeding, Mating systems
Bird behavior