By State Museum Nature and Man
Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg
Bowerbirds can only be found in Australia and New Guinea. Evolution has implemented a unique courtship display for each of the 20 species. The males build avenues, may trees and huts especially for the time of courtship. Each species also decorates those structures with objects following a specific color scheme. The females observe the process from surrounding trees, while the males create and decorate the structures in their very own "arena", as if they were performing on stage. The choice of partner is made by the females according to the quality of construction, the decorating effort and the successful "theft" of decorative objects from other male rivals. The exhibition shows all types of bowerbirds including their courtship structures in their original scale. In addition, it takes a look at the misleading humanization of animal behavior and combines the fascination with aesthetics in the animal kingdom with the discussion about intelligence and intent of animal activity.
The Gardener Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornata) builds one of the most impressive courtship structures. The 1.5 m² spanning arbors are built and decorated with great effort over long periods of time. This species was discovered in New Guinea as early as 1870 by Baron von Rosenberg, but their mating hut was not discovered until 1872 by Odoardo Beccari.
The avenues built by the Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) are comparatively narrow and are decorated with snails, shells and smaller bones. It can be found in Australia.
In comparison to the structures of other bowerbird species, the avenues of the Flame Bowerbird (Sericulus aureus) are rather inconspicuous. This bowerbird occurs in New Guinea exclusively and mates between August and November.
The Silk Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) also belongs to the group of avenue builders. If the arbor is erected close to human settlements, bottle tops and other plastic objects may be used as decoration. A striking feature of its behavior is that only blue objects are collected.
Some bowerbird species, however, do not build courtship structures at all. The White-eared Bowerbird (Ailuroedus buccoides) has never been observed constructing some form of arbor or avenue. But since they carry all morphological and genetic characteristics of a bowerbird, they are considered part of the family nevertheless.
The Streaked Bowerbird (Amblyornis subalaris) builds a combination of hut-shaped arbor and a so-called May tree. The hut is decorated with fruits, mushrooms, leaves and beetle wing covers.
Text: State Museum Nature and Man Oldenburg
Concept/Editing: Dr. Christina Barilaro, Michael Demanowski
Created on the basis of: Laubenvögel. Ein Leben auf der Bühne. Katalog zur Ausstellung im Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg vom 10. Juni 2017 bis 18. Februar 2018. Isensee Verlag, 2017.
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