Date: November 20, 2018
Source: Cornell University
Male
birds-of-paradise are justly world famous for their wildly extravagant feather
ornaments, complex calls, and shape-shifting dance moves -- all evolved to
attract a mate. New research published in the open-access journal PLOS
Biology suggests for the first time that female preferences drive the
evolution of physical and behavioral trait combinations that may also be tied
to where the male does his courting: on the ground or up in the trees. There
are 40 known species of birds-of-paradise, most found in New Guinea and
northern Australia.
Study
lead author Russell Ligon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology, suggests females are evaluating not only how great the male looks
but, simultaneously, how well he sings and dances. Female preferences for
certain combinations of traits result in what the researchers call a
"courtship phenotype" -- bundled traits determined by both genetics
and environment.
Study
authors examined 961 video clips and 176 audio clips in the Cornell Lab's
Macaulay Library archive as well as 393 museum specimens from the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City. They conclude that certain
behaviors and traits are correlated:
No comments:
Post a Comment