Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s previous World of Wonder columns for The Butter can be found here.
The semester is over, my final grades are turned in, and one of the first things I like to do to herald summer is to have a little dance party. This year? I’m partial to the smooth beats of my original Thriller album. This was the first album I bought with hard-won allowance, so I get a wave of nostalgia when I hear “Baby Be Mine,” or “P.Y.T.” Go on and jam out for a bit. I’ll wait.
Ahem. Which is why I thought the Lophorina superba—not the Lesser nor the Greater, but the Superb bird-of-Paradise—would be a fantastic and timely choice for this week’s column. I mean, check out the moves on this guy. Can’t you just picture him boppin’ along to “P.Y.T” too?
The Superb Bird-of-Paradise dances along at about eight inches tall and lives in New Guinea. It eats mostly fruits and berries, but has been known to nosh on the occasional small lizard. Can we please talk about that courtship dance, though? These birds actually lead pretty solitary lives, except during mating season. Perhaps my favorite detail about them is that the male actually clears a “dance floor” before he gets his groove on. Some might lay down leaves or scraps of paper to demarcate where this dance will take place.
If you look carefully, the Superb’s beak is like it’s the blackest-black night in January and you are trying to write a letter on black construction paper with a black swan feather dipped in India ink: it’s pretty black. So when he hoists up his long black nape-feathers, it looks like he is swooshing an elliptical cape around him—one of the most showy displays in the entire animal kingdom. And what are those turquoise eye beads on the black oval shape? Just some iridescent blue feathers on the Superb’s head that flash extra blue as they catch the sun.
I just cannot get over this little guy. Cannot. And is it me, or does the wide, horizontal turquoise stripe look like a giant mouth when the bird is in full dance mode? C’mon, I dare you to not crack a smile at that!
Is there an animal that makes you hear a certain song in your head? Please don’t tell me I’m the only one. Someone out there in Wonder-land must also assign a theme song to various animals on this planet, no? What song do you associate with the slow swim of a narwhal, the quick skitter of a capuchin monkey? I KNOW your cat/dog/iguana has a theme song. Please do share it below, and bonus points for links to the song in question, so I can continue with my “It’s almost-summer!” dance party.
Tags: aimee nezhukumatathil, the butter, world of wonder
I always imagined that our beta fish had a constant “Eye of the Tiger” loop going on in their heads. They always seemed so pissed-off and aggressive for such small swishy creatures (though this may be because they were in front of a mirror; we didn’t know that screwed them up!).
I came here to post this. Thanks for beating me to it.
This the best thing I have ever seen.
My cat’s theme song is “Little Brown Jug”. Little brown cat, oh I love thee!
This is my absolute most favorite segment from “Planet Earth.” Sometimes I watch it when I am feeling down just to cheer myself up.
I love bird of paradise mating dances. There is the guy with the tutu, and the guy that whips his head back and forth behind his wings so he can’t even see if the female is STILL THERE…. Just superbly awesome, all of them.
The Peacock Spider is pretty delightful!
That is not a bird, that is a living, dancing nightmare.
I will pay cash money for someone to set a bird of paradise’s dance to Turn Down for What.
I learned about the existence of this bird indirectly when I stumbled across a YouTube video innocuously titled “Lawes’ Parotia.” Of course then I had to find out more about birds-of-paradise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKlKw4Fr9T4
I actually courted my ex-girlfriend by doing this dance for her. She peed herself a little laughing but I feel it warmed her heart. ROMANCE.
I happened to be listening to the Panama Rag when I played this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um855yRNEBU) Jazz age Superb Bird of Paradise
On the subject of animals and theme songs.
My parents have had flocks of turkeys for the past few years now. The first time they did it there were just three with free roam of the property. Watching the big tom come strutting over the hill, tail fanned out majestically behind him while the lone female turkey looked purposefully in the opposite direction always makes me think of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfwQ_7xqO7Y
(For the record, he tasted delicious. They all did.)
One of my cats has the Poor Hamster song for a them (“Poor Prosper, poor Prosper, why must your life be so tough?”) and the other one chills mostly to the Madeline theme song, since it’s her name. Yes. Yes, all animals get songs.