We just saw this bird’s amazing transformation in the Honolulu Zoom. What a show! We got him to perform for us by talking and dancing for him first. ;)
You know whats really interesting is that a lot of these types of birds showcase to females very similar patterns, mainly the huge black roundish disc and something iridescent within the disc. The ballerina bird from top view is similar to the horizontal view of this smiley-face bird.
I get the feeling this doubles as a defense mechanism. If you're gonna be super brightly colored might as well also look terrifying so when predators inevitably see you, you can scare them. Animals hate unusual faces. It's not unusual for animals to make mock faces to trick or creep out predators. I get this feeling purely because of the fake eyes. It's just such a weird trait to use purely for breeding.
Is this narrated by Tim Laman? Or Ed Scholes? Oh, what wonders you have shown us! Thank You. Again and again. Thank you both, (and all others) Than you so very much.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation of the various components of the display. I'm starting a list false eye (eyespot) examples, and really wanted to know for certain that the eyespots were legitimate. It's interesting that they can, I think, legitimately be called eyespots (from an emergent perspective) but aren't actually formed from to actual spots.
One of my all-time-favorite birds. Lots of good information here. I have a comment about 3:19. It looks more like the male is herding the female around, rather than reacting to her movements. Look at it in slow motion. Also, I have a comment about 3:50. Saying the male is exhausted just because you can see that he is breathing is not a logical scientific conclusion. Birds breathe. They fly (long distances!), they hop (a lot!), and they breathe.
He said he looked exhausted because he was breathing heavily, not because he was breathing. If an animal breathes heavily after strenuous activity it is perfectly reasonable to assume it is feeling exhausted.
@@ItsVideos I didn't say it's breathing heavily. I was saying what he said. I don't know the normal breathing speed for birds so I can't speak on it. All I can speak on is that he wasn't trying to say visible breathing means it's exhausted.
@@catpoke9557 The narrator is wrong. The male bird is not breathing heavily and the bird is not exhausted. I used to think Cornell was a reputable school. The narrator, or whoever wrote the script, is clearly not a scientist.
Fascinating and excellently done. I read on Wikipedia that this species has a highly skewed sex ratio but I could not find any other resources either supporting or refuting this claim - is this true?
