superb-bird-of-paradise
Every now and then, Mother Nature does something so lovely and improbable as to make you wonder, "Did that really just happen? And *how*?"
Such is the case with the courtship rituals of male Paradisaeidae, the [bird-of-paradise family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird-of-paradise). Found only in the dense rainforests of New Guinea and a few remote Australian islands, they put on some of the animal world's most spectacular shows.
Their extreme sexual dimorphism — the technical term for when different sexes of the same species have different forms — doesn't simply encompass physical traits, which in Paradisaeidae males include Day-Glo colors and spaceman-antenna feathers. It's their behavior: the wild ululations and Kabuki-like postures and dances that sometimes make them look like UFOs.
How did this come to be? In a nutshell, because it could. Paradisaeidae's closest relatives are the crows and jays of the [Corvidae family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae), but they've spent much of their evolutionary history on islands that lacked mammalian predators. In their absence, even the most conspicuous behaviors could attract mates rather than danger.
Researchers from Cornell University's [Birds-of-Paradise Project](http://birdsofparadiseproject.org/) are studying these amazing displays, and last week released a trove of new videos. On the following pages are some of our favorites.
__Above:__
Superb Bird-of-Paradise
-----------------------
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
