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rasorial

/rəˈsɔriəl/
IPA guide

Rasorial is a word you might want to know if you like to birdwatch, since it refers to some birds' ability or tendency to scratch the ground for food.

In ornithology, rasorial refers to birds like chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and quails. These birds have strong, sturdy legs and blunt claws perfectly designed for scratching at the soil to uncover seeds, insects, or roots. In fact, the term used to refer to birds in the formal taxonomic order called Rasores (the "scratchers"), but that classification is no longer used. While the term is today almost exclusively used for birds, some early naturalists referred to other animals' "rasorial habits," including those of bandicoots, a type of marsupial.

Definitions of rasorial
  1. adjective
    adapted for or characterized by scratching the ground in search of food, especially of birds such as chickens, or their feet
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