Amazing Birds of Paradise: Lessons in Evolution

This video shows some birds that simply don't look real!!  Highly recommended!  It also illustrates the paradoxical nature of being male... sometimes you have to be pretty outlandish to land a female.  But what about attracting predators...?  Where's the evolutionary advantage...?  Outlandish males are the 'fittest' and get to pass on their genes.  Moral of the story: males are expendable!!  So what if a few get eaten... there are always plenty more where they came from!

The Birds-of-Paradise Project reveals the astounding beauty of 39 of the most exquisitely specialized animals on earth. After 8 years and 18 expeditions to New Guinea, Australia, and nearby islands, Cornell Lab scientist Ed Scholes and National Geographic photojournalist Tim Laman succeeded in capturing images of all 39 species in the bird-of-paradise family for the first time ever. This trailer gives a sense of their monumental undertaking and the spectacular footage that resulted. Filmed by Tim Laman, Ed Scholes, and Eric Liner.