The observation of rare behaviours can provide unexpected insights into the biology of a species. Here, we report new observations of unusual or rare behaviours by the Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus of New Caledonia, a flightless bird already known for many curious traits. We observed the broken‐wing display, adoption of a chick by a neighbouring family and flexibility in the selection of cooperative breeding partners in response to disruption in their social organisation. Although infrequent, these observations demonstrate the highly developed social flexibility that enables Kagu to counter heavy population losses caused by predation. We think that rare behaviours could often be overlooked in species because restricted research objectives might not allow their discovery.

中文翻译：

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有些人很奇怪：长期研究发现，新喀里多尼亚的卡古（Kagu）飞行不正常的行为异常

对罕见行为的观察可以为物种的生物学提供意想不到的见解。在这里，我们报告了新喀里多尼亚的Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus对异常或稀有行为的新观察，这是一种因许多好奇特质而闻名的不会飞的鸟。我们观察到了折翼的展示，邻近家庭收养的雏鸡以及在选择合作育种伙伴以应对其社会组织破裂时的灵活性。尽管很少见，但这些观察结果表明，高度发展的社会灵活性使Kagu能够应对捕食造成的大量人口损失。我们认为稀有行为在物种中常常会被忽略，因为受限的研究目标可能不允许发现它们。