October 15, 1999

Jolique hopes you have not deluded yourself by thinking that beauty and adornment are merely the idle pastimes of women. That is soooo not the case. In fact, not only do men beautify themselves (after all, men shower, shave and even wear cologne), but so do other animals. Why even birds do!

Just like humans, other animals, birds and fish make use of their natural beauty in order to attract mates for reproduction. And for those that lack natural beauty, they do just as humans do—they compensate for it in other ways. Such is the case of the famous bowerbird.

The bowerbirds, a group of approximately 19 bird species native to New Guinea and Australia, serve as an excellent example of the use of adornment in the courting ritual. Because the bowerbird is physically uninteresting, that is, it possesses none of the spectacular plumage one typically associates with the male peacock or the bird of paradise, for example, it uses the adornment of its bower (rather than itself) to lure a mate.

As is the case with many birds and animals, the male, not the female, bowerbird is responsible for initiating the courtship. The male woos the female with the construction of a bower (basically a love-nest), made of twigs, grass, and leaves. He decorates the entrance to the bower with shiny bits of metal, colorful flower petals, iridescent beetle wings, seashells--even stolen car keys and cigarette wrappers! And as the sun moves across the bower during the day, the bird will re-arrange his little love collage in ways that allow the pieces to capture the most sunlight (after all, good lighting is key!).  

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