The superb lyrebird of southern Australia鈥攔enowned for its 鈥攊s once again being lauded for its performance skills. This time, it鈥檚 not the bird鈥檚 incredible songs but rather its dance moves that are of note. in Current Biology shows that males of these large, forest-dwelling birds perform choreographed dance steps that match specific songs from their extensive repertoire. The male鈥檚 dance is part of a display to convince the ladies that he鈥檚 good mating material.
While there are plenty of of male bird species that try to win the affections of females through elaborate displays, this study is the first to correlate particular groups of songs with specific dance movements. Unlike some birds whose , these fellas can鈥攁nd do鈥攑erform the vocalizations without the dance. They don鈥檛 need to dance in order to make their calls. And with more than a hundred vocalizations at their disposal, the fact that males only performed these dance steps while singing those particular four songs indicates that the combination is no accident.
Anastasia Dalziell, the lead author on the study from Australian National University, explains that these birds are doing something similar to what we do: 鈥淲e have a repertoire of music and we have a repertoire of dance moves,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e waltz to waltz music, but we salsa to salsa music. So we have to learn what sounds are associated with which movements, and then have to coordinate them.鈥
 A male superb lyrebird (Photo by Alex Maisey) |
For lyrebirds, their display involves four distinct song types (including one that Dalziell 鈥揹ead-on鈥攄escribes as sounding like 鈥渁 1980s video arcade game鈥). The birds sing the songs in a certain order, and perform particular dance moves that correspond with each song type. During the third song type, for example, the bird jumps, bobs, and flaps his wings. (If you haven鈥檛 already, be sure to check it out yourself in the video above around the 4:45 mark).
It might seem likely that those with the fanciest footwork have the most luck wooing a mate, but that remains to be seen. Females of some birds, like the golden-collared manakin, can perceive timing differences . When the male lyrebirds make mistakes鈥攍ike mismatching the song and dance that are supposed to be paired鈥攄o females notice? Dalziell didn鈥檛 tackle that question in this study, but hopes to investigate it in future studies.
However, she鈥檚 sure that the females do notice the dances: 鈥淭his dance display happens just before copulation,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e learn that these dances clearly play an important role in attracting a mate, but exactly what parts of it she鈥檚 looking at, we鈥檙e not sure.鈥
If it seems unfair that the males are putting in a lot of effort while the females hang out and watch them work, fast forward: after the guy cuts a rug and wins his lady, she鈥檚 completely on her own when it comes to raising the chicks.
Related posts: