Six-plumed Bird of Paradise

BIRD OF PARADISE
RESEARCH QUESTION
How do animals survive in different conditions, how are they adapted to their habitat?

Photo Credit: Tim Laman
http://www.timlaman.com/

General Information:

SCIENTIFIC NAME: TYPE:DIET:GROUPLIFESPANSIZE(metric)
Parotia SefilataBird The feeding habits of birds of paradise are not well known, but it is believed that most species are fruit eaters. Most birds of paradise eat insects; they have been observed tearing apart dead wood to get to insects. Some species have been seen eating seeds, frogs and reptilesThe parotias are a genus, Parotia, of passerine birds in the bird-of-paradise family Paradisaeida5 - 8 years50g - 430g (1.8oz - 15.2oz)

Habitat

  • Where do they live
  • In papua new guinea
  • What is their environment like
  • They live in a rain forest
  • how are they affected by climate change
  • They are effected by climate change because their environment is being destroyed

Diet

  • feeding habits of birds of paradise are not well known
  • most species are fruit eaters
  • most birds of paradise eat insects
  • sometimes tear apart dead wood to get to insects
  • have been seen eating seeds, frogs and reptiles
  •  

How many are their? Are they endangered?

  • There are more than three dozen species in the family Paradisaeiae, more commonly known as the birds of paradise. Most are distinguished by striking colors and bright plumage of yellow, blue, scarlet, and green.
  • they are endangered

Life span

  • 5 – 8 years

Natural selection/Survival of the fittest

The birds of paradise have a very interesting mating ritual like how there are no bland birds because natural selection have made it so that the females would choose the better looking ones. Also in one of the videos at the bottom it shows a male bird cleaning up its nest/”stage” so that when the female came the male would look tidy. Also another adaptation is how the male changed its eye color and how the bird knew how to show her the cool under feathers which had incidents.  

Adaptations:

PigmentsIridescent
* bird-of-paradise feathers get the colors from pigments
*pigments are chemicals that interact with light
*pigments absorb white light and reflect certain wavelengths (colours)
*we see the reflected wavelengths as colour of the feather.
*most of red, orange, and yellow found in birds are due to chemicals called carotenoids. *most browns and blacks come from melanins,
*sometimes the color in feathers has a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t quality called iridescence.
*the flashes of colour are called iridescent colours are directional; they only look right from specific angles.
*when the feather turns a little more the bright color can completely disappear, revealing black or brown pigments within the light-bending layers.
*most of the green, blue, and violet feathers in the birds-of-paradise are iridescent.
*in birds-of-paradise, like most bird species, most eyes are black.

*but some species have stunning eye colors.

*eye color is different than feather color

*eye color is produced by pigments deposited in lipid droplets.

*sometimes the pigment is in crystal form.

SOURCES:

The ‘Black Hole’ Optical Illusion of the Bird of Paradise Explained
https://www.livescience.com/61406-black-hole-bird-of-paradise.html

Bird Of Paradise: Appearances COUNT! | Animal Attraction | BBC Earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTmHtxJpEWE&feature=emb_logo

Bird of Paradise
https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/bird-paradise

Birds of Paradise Participate in Extremely Intricate Mating Ritual
https://roaring.earth/birds-of-paradise-ritual/

Birds-of-Paradise Project:  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://www.birdsofparadiseproject.org/