Page 109 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #10

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Q&A
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This month’s panel

STUART BLACKMAN RICHARD JONES POLLY PULLAR MIKE TOMS LAURIE JACKSON IMOGENE CANCELLARE AMY-JANE BEER SARAH McPHERSON
Science writer Entomologist Naturalist and author Ornithologist Ecologist Biologist and conservationist Naturalist and author Q&A editor

BIRDS
Why are birds of paradise

so spectacular?

There are probably various females pick out males against the
Acontributing factors. First, the birds' cluttered and complex background of the
polygynous mating system, in which a few understorey habitat in which they display.
males monopolise most of the females, Despite the astonishing diversity of
leads to intense competition between displays among the 39 species, they are The king bird of paradise,
Tim Laman/naturepl.com male quality to the choosy – and far more same family (Paradisaeidae), so share that is the smallest and most
all very closely related, belonging to the
males. Exaggerated displays advertise
found in the lowland
forests of New Guinea,
propensity for colour and choreography.
drab – females. Second, choreographed
brightly coloured of the
movements and bright plumage help
Stuart Blackman
39 species of ‘BoPs’.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 109