NOVA: I've heard that you have used robotic female bowerbirds. Why? Borgia: One of my students, Gail Patricelli, has just gotten a paper accepted at Nature that describes how she has used a robotic ...

Gail Patricelli wasn’t so sure that courtship is really as one-sided as the ill-fated show “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?” where contestants strutted, and a watcher of the other sex selected. So, ...

In the search for sex, young female bowerbirds prefer blue, while their older sisters go for flamboyant strutting and loud squawks, scientists reported Wednesday. This indicates male bowerbirds have ...

In many species of birds, the males are far showier than the females. Males of some species might possess colorful plumage or exaggerated physical features to catch a female’s eye, while males of ...

It takes some trickery for a male great bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus nuchalis) to hold a female's attention. He spends a majority of his time building and performing upkeep on an intricate structure ...

When looking for sex partners, younger females prefer males who decorate their place with a little extra blue, be it plastic or feathers. They also prefer males who tone down the intensity of their ...

Everyone likes a good optical illusion, and that includes at least one animal. Male bowerbirds woo females by constructing a bachelor pad that creates an illusion of uniform décor (and the illusion ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract Male Satin Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) court females at specialized structures called bowers. Courtship includes a complex pattern ...

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol. 25, No. 6 (1989), pp. 445-453 (9 pages) Hamilton and Zuk proposed that bright male plumage may have evolved in males of polygynous species as a result of ...

Sometimes love is an illusion. Especially if you're a bowerbird. These crow kin from Australia and New Guinea are known for constructing elaborate edifices to woo mates. But males of one species, the ...

Charles Darwin scratched his head over the purpose of bowers, the carefully tended sex dens of the bowerbird. But few scientists had conducted studies of these ornate constructions and their earnest ...