26 October 2012
Just out last week, this short video is a gorgeous introduction to the Birds-of-Paradise Project.
For the past eight years Cornell Lab’s Ed Scholes and National Geographic’s Tim Laman collaborated to film all 39 species of the birds-of-paradise. Their goal was to probe the mystery of the birds’ evolution and to bring attention to their conservation needs.
How did the birds and their dances become so exotic? It’s as if they were selectively bred for the most elaborate dances and fancy plumes.
And they were.
Just like our experience of selectively breeding dogs into specialized traits and sizes (think Irish wolfhound and dachshund), the female birds-of-paradise have always selected the fanciest males with the best dances. And then they breed.
Watch the video of these amazing birds and check Cornell Lab’s resource link for the upcoming book and broadcast.
(video from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Geographic via YouTube)
this film surely is a gift from paradise; how beautiful, how glad I am I awoke this AM and was able to watch this wonderful bit of love between creatures I will never see inthe wild myself. Kate, thank you so much. Maybe this is what paradise was at the beginning and it is only left to us to see this small segment of what could be. Faith.
Those birds got some moves!!!! Now “The Way You Make Me Feel” by M Jackson will be running through my head …
ABSOLUTELY STUNNING, KATE!!!! Thank you for bringing this to us.