The male bowerbird is the Nate Berkus of the animal kingdom, with an eye for decorating that may make even the most talented interior designer look like an amateur. This hopeful bachelor doesn't just build a nest for his potential mate; he lavishly adorns it, too , all in hopes of catching a female bowerbird's attention. When designing, he arranges shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded plastic items, coins, nails, rifle shells, or pieces of glass and other objects to stage the nest.The males spend hours arranging this collection. There are two main types of bowers. One clade of bowerbirds build so-called maypole bowers that are constructed by placing sticks around a sapling.The other major bowerbuilding clade builds an avenue type bower made of two walls of vertically placed sticks.
And according to recent studies published in the journal Current Biology, he even takes it one step further. Researcher John Endler explains that male bowerbirds actually stage the nest so that, when viewed from a specific spot, the arrangement makes objects including the bowerbird look bigger than they really are. Since competition is steep, with several male bowerbirds vying for the same females, this feathered friend can use all the help he can get.
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