Little Birdie

A creature known to the ringleaders on the Bottle Ship as little birdie is a small, ratite-like organism seen in Metroid: Other M and is the larval stage of Ridley's life cycle. It was genetically cloned from DNA found on Samus' armor prior to the game's events. Not knowing it was spawned by Ridley's DNA, the scientists thought it lacked potential as a bioweapon, and instead began treating it as their pet, giving it its nickname. Some time later it was found playing dead in its cage and escaped after it brutally murdered the unfortunate scientist who discovered it.

Samus Aran first encounters it after she leaves the Breeding Room (the creature's original chamber) in the Biosphere, watching it as it tries to get on top of its favorite fruit. It scurries off after noticing Samus staring at it, but as she turns to walk away, it emerges from the brush and stares at her. Later, a piercing howl is heard in the Kihunter nest, sending the surrounding Zeros into panic and enraging a swarm of Kihunters into protecting them and attacking Samus. After she defeats the hive, the creature appears and begins feeding on the honey from the broken nest while roaring at Samus as she walks by. She refers to it as a "disgusting beast" due to its parasitic nature of using other creatures' strength to its advantage, and also by the way it greedily consumes the honey.

After Samus battles a previously unknown lizard-like creature, Samus and the 07th Platoon find Lyle KIA, covered in green blood. Samus follows the trail of blood, at the end of which she finds the little birdie leaning against an automotive vehicle. She nudges it, which then causes it to fall over, revealing that it was only a shell that was recently shed. It can be assumed that once little birdie outgrew its "shell" and molted into the lizard creature, it targeted and consumed Lyle.

Trivia

 * Little birdie demonstrates a high degree of intelligence when it plays dead to lure the scientist into its cage so it can kill him and escape. Later, it "uses" Samus to destroy the Kihunter hive, allowing it to harvest and consume the honey. This indicates that Ridley retains his capacity for critical thought even in his infant stage.
 * Little Birdie bears a structural resemblance to a Furby.
 * As Samus explores the Biosphere, loud piercing screeches can be heard, which initially provoke creatures, such as the Griptian and the Dragotix, to attack Samus. These screeches are revealed to be Little birdie's prior to Samus' arrival at the Kihunter hive.
 * It is unknown whether or not the Ridley clone was able to remember Samus- although it attacks her in the Exam Center and stares fixedly at her in the Biosphere, the only way it could possibly have remembered her was if Ridley had somehow encoded memories within his DNA.
 * Another body of a Lab Worker is located in the Main Sector, whose clothing is also stained with green blood. However, the corpse is not ragged at all, and Samus quickly concludes that each scientist was killed by a different creature.
 * Interestingly, Little birdie's escape (and murder of the scientist) appeared to have taken place mere moments before the start of MB's rampage, making Little birdie the first creature on the Bottle Ship to have rebelled and broken loose. Whether the two incidents are somehow related to one another is unknown.
 * Little birdie is the only form of Ridley to not be fought in any form of a boss.
 * Ridley's 3-stage evolution is like that of a Pokémon.
 * Coincidentilly, Pokemon is also owned by nintendo.

Gallery
Pajarito