Several times in the past, I've linked to Kim Bostwick's research with South American manakins from Birds in the News, but now there is a streaming slow-motion video of her moonwalking manakins (click for alternate video source), complete with music. At certain times of the day, there is high demand for this video, so you might have to return later to view it.
Hattip: Dawn.
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More like this
It's hard to believe that just over fifty years ago psychology was in the firm grip of behaviorism, which denied any semblance of intelligence or emotion in animals. (They were just biological machines.) Talk of anything but stimulus and reward was just sentimental pseudoscience.
tags: dancing bird, Wire-tailed manakin,
tags: King Bird of Paradise, Cicinnurus regius,
When I first saw that video, I would have sworn the bird was CG. It's crazy how fake something real can look.
Wow! That video crashed my FireFox, but it was worth firing up Safari just to see it!
I still get a kick out of it every time I watch it. Awesome!