Male bowerbirds hope to dazzle females with bright human-made items
razzle-dazzle them
“It’s a reminder of how human activity is changing the natural world in unanticipated ways.”
"Hey baby, check out my bower" Credit: Caitlin Evans
Male bowerbirds are notorious for their complex mating rituals. They build intricate tunnels out of twigs—the bowers from which they get their name—and then decorate them with random colorful items gleaned from the environment. When a female of the species shows up to check out a male’s fancy digs, the male tosses his shiniest objects in her direction and shows off his plumage in hopes of impressing her.
According to a new paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science by University of Exeter scientists, urbanization and the associated growing availability of brightly colored human-made items have had a significant impact on courtship display behavior in Australian male bowerbirds. There are marked differences in the choice of decorations for bowerbirds in urban versus...
Copyright of this story solely belongs to arstechnica.com. To see the full text click HERE
