Field Guide 1966
  • Home
  • Field Guide 1966
    • Arthropods
    • Birds
    • Mammals
    • Reptiles & Amphibians
  • Incredible Animals
  • ODS Curriculum
    • Long Stations >
      • Arthropods
      • The Bat Cave
      • Birds
      • Horns & Antlers
      • Owls
      • Pelts A & B
      • Skulls
      • Sound Map
    • Short Stations >
      • Birds of Prey
      • Canines & Felines
      • Mustelidae & Mephitidae
      • Passerines
      • Primarily Prey
      • Reptiles & Amphibians
      • Rodents
      • Scavengers
    • The Hike >
      • Aplodontia
      • Bird Sounds
      • Build a Nest
      • Camouflage Trail
      • Damaged Plants
      • Decomposition
      • The Edge
      • Fox Walk & Bobcat's Breakfast
      • Pelt Squares
      • Predator vs. Prey
      • Scat
      • The Shaker Battle Game
      • Supermarket Niche
      • Tracks
      • Woodpeckers
      • Yoshio
  • Student Leaders
    • SL Teams
    • Field Study Rubric
  • Updates
  • Contact

Bowerbirds Use Geometry to Woo Females

12/9/2012

 
Source: National Geographic
Picture
A great bowerbird displaying to a female who has entered his bower. Photograph by Tim Laman, National Geographic

Jennifer S. Holland
for National Geographic News
Published December 3, 2012

Sometimes love is an illusion. Especially if you're a bowerbird.

These crow kin from Australia and New Guinea are known for constructing elaborate edifices to woo mates. But males of one species, the great bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus nuchalis), go a step further: They use a trick of architectural perspective to boost their allure, and will stick to their own scheme even if it falls short with the females.

While most bowerbirds embellish their "love nests" with bright, shiny baubles, the great bowerbird's decor is comparatively bland: an avenue of sticks leading to a pair of courts garnished with mostly gray-to-white objects like pebbles, shells, and bones.

But a lack of color doesn't mean a lack of style for these birds. Biologists John Endler and Laura Kelley of Australia's Deakin University have found that male great bowerbirds carefully arrange their courts' decorations in a specific pattern, with bigger items farther away from the bower avenue (where the female stands), creating the illusion of an evenly textured stage.

This effect—called "forced perspective"—may be visually pleasing to the female, or it may simply make the male, who waves colored objects during his mating dance, easier to see. Whatever the reason, the males who build the most geometric patterns also have the most success in winning mates.

What's most surprising is the commitment of each male to his own aesthetic. As reported in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, when the scientists rearranged objects in the birds' courts to make the patterns stronger, the suitors restored their original design within three days.

It seems that, for birds as for humans, sometimes getting your own way counts most.


Comments are closed.
    The Tree of Life Web Project is like Wikipedia for animal (and plant) classification nerds.

    Search for something (like one of the categories below) to see what all is contained within that phylogenetic group. You might be surprised! Just below the tree of any group is a link for the "containing" group, to move backward out of the tree. Clicking on any blue link within the tree will take you forward into the tree, deeper down the lagomorpha hole.

    Categories

    All
    Actinopterygii
    Annelida
    Araneae
    Artiodactyla
    Bucerotiformes
    Cephalopoda
    Cetacea
    Chiroptera
    Cnidaria
    Coleoptera
    Crustacea
    Edentata
    Felidae
    Hominidae
    Hymenoptera
    Iguania
    Lepidoptera
    Orthoptera
    Passeriformes
    Pholidota
    Porifera
    Proboscidea
    Procellariiformes
    Rodentia
    Salientia
    Serpentes
    Strigiformes
    Tardigrada
    Testudines

    RSS Feed


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.