Birds-of-paradise

Alex Re (00:01): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you you're going to come out if you're knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. Today we're looking at a family of birds that have extremely complex behaviors, strange sounds, and unbelievable physical features. Throughout the episode, I encourage you to look online to see what these animals really look like because sometimes you'll need to see them to believe they're real. So get out your binoculars because we're heading into the rainforest to talk about birds of paradise.

(00:59): There are about 45 species classified as birds of paradise, all belonging to the IDE family, and it's easy to get confused because there's also a plant species called a bird of paradise too. These animals are known for being some of the most colorful birds in the world, and I mean that literally and figuratively. They have extravagant looking feathers, but they also have some amazing and bizarre behaviors. We'll talk about all of that on today's episode. You can find birds of paradise in tropical rainforest environments. Usually in Australia and New Guinea. Their closest relatives are crows and jays and it makes sense in a lot of cases because they can have similar behaviors as birds of paradise. Now, birds of paradise are medium sized birds. The largest species is called the greater bird of paradise. It's about 17 inches long. Meanwhile, the smallest species is known as the king bird of paradise, and it's only around seven inches long.

(02:05): Most of these birds like to eat fruit and insects, although some species will go after larger prey like frogs and lizards. This episode is going to be a little different than what we've previously done. Instead of talking about all birds of paradise as a whole, I'm going to talk about specific ones individually because they're all so unique. These birds are all closely related, but many of them look extremely different from each other. This is due to the fact that they've been isolated from each other geographically. New Guinea is a country that's off the coast of Australia, and both of these countries have birds of paradise, but New Guinea also has multiple islands where new species of birds of paradise have been able to evolve. Evolution also happens more quickly with smaller populations like those that would live on an island. All of this creates the perfect storm for making birds with extravagant colors and weird behaviors, and the purpose of all of these crazy features is to attract a mate.

(03:10): But how do we know that? Well, one of the most obvious ways to tell is by looking at the differences between males and females. Males have bright colors and strange behaviors, but females usually don't, and this is called sexual dimorphism. It's also a great example of sexual selection. This means that their traits are determined by what the females like and in birds of paradise. Their features are extremely exaggerated, and you'll get what I'm talking about more as we continue on with the episode. So let's take our first break and when we get back we'll start talking about our first amazing bird of paradise species. Today I want to give a shout out to Jack and Georgia from Missouri. Their favorite animal is a hyena. Did you know that sometimes hyenas like to sleep in pools of water in order to stay? Cool. Okay, now back to the episode.

(04:27): The first bird of paradise that we're going to take a look at is the astrapia. There are five different astrapia species. These aren't the most colorful birds of paradise, although some can be like an iridescent green. They're usually just black in color, but the main feature that they all have in common is they're extremely long tail. The tail is just two really long feathers. In some species, they're a different color than the rest of the bird. The ribbon tail, the stria can get to be about a foot long, not including their tail. The tail itself can be over three feet long. This is one of the longest tail lengths to body size in any bird species. If a six foot tall person had a tail with the same proportions, the tail would be 18 feet long. Females are attracted to these long tails, but they're kind of a nuisance for the males.

(05:24): Sometimes they have to untangle them before they're able to fly and they definitely slow them down. So why do the females want the males and eventually their offspring to have these long feathers? Well, it's basically an indication that the males are healthy in spite of the big clunky tail, which makes it harder to avoid predators. Those males survived, which means that they're strong enough to overcome that obstacle. That's a pretty interesting way of determining your mate's. Fitness extras also form Lex, which are groups of males that all gather together to put on displays for females. The mating behavior for these birds usually consists of jumping from branch to branch while keeping their tail feathers raised. Sometimes they like to attract females by waving their tails back and forth. While I'm on the subject of tails, I have to bring up the 12 wired bird of paradise.

(06:23): The top half of their body is black while the bottom half is yellow, and the reason why they're called 12 wired birds of paradise is because they have 12 extremely thin feathers that look like wires that stick out of their backside just like a tail. The male uses his wires to impress females in a pretty hilarious way. These birds are very territorial and they perch themselves on top of a small tree in order to make sure he can be seen clearly. He removes any leaves from the tree and he also removes any other obstructions. When he attracts a female, he has her fly over to his perch. This is where he gets to use his wiry looking feathers. The female pers below him on the tree and he pers directly above her. He does a little dance where he moves his tail back and forth hitting the female in the face with the wires.

(07:19): The females seem to like when they do this and if they approve then they'll mate, but if they don't approve, then he'll have to find another female to impress. Another bird of paradise called the king of Saxony. Doesn't have a long tail, but long head feathers. This is one of my favorite birds of paradise to look at. They're relatively small, have a black head and a yellow body. They have one long feather on each side of their head and they look kind of like antennas. The feathers are striped and they're about 20 inches long, which is more than double the length of the actual bird. In courtship displays, they bounce up and down and move their feathers back and forth, but they not only use visuals to help them attract mates, but also sound just like many other birds. The king of Saxony makes some of the most interesting sounds in the animal kingdom in order to attract a mate.

(08:18): The mating call that males make sounds like some sort of alien ray gun. It's really amazing how a living animal can produce these sounds. This bird is usually sitting high on top of a tree branch, and their call really resonates throughout the forest. Birds are able to make their calls with an organ called the snx. Unlike our voice box known as the larynx, it's located at the bottom of their windpipe. They expel air through the snx, which is how they produce sound. It's believed that bird calls are also the result of sexual selection and the female oftentimes uses the call of a bird to determine its fitness. If a male is able to make a longer and stronger call, then that means he most likely has more stamina and is in better shape than a bird that can't call as long. Now we're going to talk about birds of paradise that fall under the category of shapeshifters, and you'll find out why right after the break. Time for our trivia question, how many legs does a lobster have? Here's a hint. They're classified as deca pods. If you guessed 10, you'd be right. Deco is a prefix, meaning 10. Some other deca pods are shrimp and crabs,

(10:06): So there's a few birds of paradise that are categorized as shapeshifters because they use really cool visual cues to attract mates. Some of the shapeshifters include peria, Laina, sickle bills and riflebirds. Peria have some of the coolest displays because they do intricate dances along with their shape shifting. Males have a spot on the forest floor that acts as their stage. They make sure to keep their stage clear of any debris picking up leaves and twigs that have fallen onto the area. When a female arrives, she s on a branch that looks down on the stage. His display is the most effective when viewed from above. When first looking at the peria, they're not as colorful as other birds of paradise. Most of their body is black and they have a few frills on their head, but they have some tricks up their sleeve. Something really amazing is that they can change the color of their eye from blue to yellow.

(11:09): They also have a patch of feathers that are bright iridescent colors. When they bob their head down, it flashes the feathers. Some of their feathers can also be extended outward when they're doing their dance, which makes it look like they're wearing a tutu. The male practices his dance for hours each day waiting for a female, and if a female likes his dance, then she'll let him mate with her. If she doesn't, then she'll fly away. La arenas can form their feathers into a half circle shape. When you look at them from the front, they don't even look like a bird anymore. The half circle is completely black except for two iridescent blue dots in the middle of the half circle and a long blue line at the bottom. A lot of people say that it resembles a smiley face. These birds often sit on a fallen log and show their display to a female hopping around to make sure the female only sees their front.

(12:09): They give the full experience too because they not only use visuals, but they also use sound. They move their wings in a certain way that it makes a clacking sound. Sickle bills are similar to La Farinas in that they form an oval shape with their body and they have an iridescent pattern. When the shape is made instead of a fallen log, these birds usually perch on a tree branch to attract females, and finally we've got rifle birds. Rifle birds have an iridescent throat patch just like the Perus and the inside of their mouth is also a bright yellow in their display. They fan out their wings to the side and plump up their body feathers into a ball shape. When a female approaches, he moves his head and wings from side to side and it seems like the bird is dabbing. Remember that trend from the 2000 tens?

(13:02): That's exactly what it looks like. If the female is interested in him, she'll start doing the display with him. Riflebird have also been known to decorate their nests with snake skin that's been shed in order to scare off any animal that likes to eat their eggs. Birds of paradise aren't just nice to look at. They're also important to the ecosystems that they live in. As I mentioned earlier in the episode, a lot of these birds like to eat fruit. Because of this, they're seed dispersers. When they eat the fruit and fly to a different location in the forest, they excrete waste with the seeds of the fruit that they ate. This helps to disperse plant life throughout the forest, which is beneficial for all kinds of different species, including humans. They'll also eat insects which contributes to the control of those populations. Not only this, but they're also an amazing example of evolution at work as well as sexual selection in birds.

(14:04): There's still a ton of information. We don't know about birds of paradise, but they really are one of a kind animals. Unfortunately, because of their bright colors, humans have been hunting them and using their feathers for decorative purposes. Many species are considered vulnerable or threatened by the I U C N red list, mainly because of hunting and habitat loss. When trees are cut down, it destroys the stages on which these birds perform their elaborate dances, which they work really hard to maintain. This can cause them to lose their chance at reproduction, making the next generation of birds of paradise weaker than the ones before it. It also takes away the homes of these birds. Since 2002, new Guinea has lost around percent of all of its tree cover. That might not seem like a lot, but it's equivalent to almost 4 million acres. Luckily, there are a lot of great organizations that are helping Birds of Paradise as well as the forests that they live in. If you want to help, you should check out Birds of Paradise, sanctuary Rainforest Fund, and Rainforest Trust. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of Birds of Paradise. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we referenced@onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife or on TikTok at Wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next month for another awesome episode, and that's on Wildlife

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