Male Bowerbirds Impress the Ladies
Want to come over and see my place? I designed it with you in mind, and if you step inside, I can show you a good time. As a matter of fact, you probably heard about my reputation for pleasing women... Credit: Wikimedia Commons / JJ Harrison ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) How did you like my impression of the great bowerbird? I've seen human versions of the male bowerbird, and it's tempting anthropomorphize by assigning human behaviors and my values to a critter, so let's move on. These are down 'Straya and New Guinea way, and are grouped with certain catbirds that have a greater sense of morality (sorry, there I go again), what with being monogamous and all. There are ten species of bowerbirds, and they get their name because, well, they build bowers . They work hard to make them aesthetically pleasing. If you set down your ring and can't find it later, it may not have been a packrat that picked it up, but a bowerbird getting the place all gussied up. Yes, they use a variety of