Birds of Paradise: Family Paradisaeidae

Paradisaeidae: Birds of Paradise

Alfred Russel Wallace and the Great Malarial Daze

It is important to remember, that just before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species a young stud named Alfred Russel Wallace had come up with the same theory on evolution and natural selection.  The short version of the story is that, when Darwin found out that he had competition, he decided to finally publish his own theory and share the credit with Wallace.  At this point in history it was very gracious of the two men to agree to share the credit.  But, while Darwin was nestled in his cozy lab in Kent studying barnacles, Wallace was catching birds and malaria in an Indonesian jungle hut.  While Darwin got his inspiration from the Galapagos finches, Wallace got his inspiration from the Birds of Paradise.

In his early years, Wallace made money by hunting and stuffing interesting and exotic animals all around the world, and then selling them to rich Europeans.  While he was living in New Guinea, he came down with a bad case of malaria and had to stay in bed for months.  To keep up with business, he paid the local kids to hunt for him.  Wallace knew that Europeans would pay big bucks for the famed Birds of Paradise, so he told the kids to gather as many as they could.

He started to notice that the species of birds that he had collected were very closely related, but differed based on their geographic location on the island.  Birds from the highlands were very different from closely related lowland birds.  Today, this is the science of biogeography, and Wallace is known as the ‘Father of Biogeography’.

Hey wait! I just wanted to know about the pretty birds…

Birds of Paradise are among the most gaudy and beautiful birds on the planet. Thanks to Alfred “Malaria Don't Russel My Feathers” Wallace's research and discoveries, we are able to glean a lot of information about the evolution of these birds.

Birds of Paradise and the Corvid family are closely related and probably descended from a recent common ancestor. All of the genera in this family are pretty well restricted to the main island of New Guinea. Only two genera are found on the Australian Coast. All of these birds are frugivorous (fruit eaters) and insectivorous (insect eaters) gathering food close to the forest floor.

Why so gaudy?

Genetic drift works by isolating some members of a species and then allowing natural selection to preserve characteristics that suit a particular environment. Over time, the preserved traits can become so exaggerated that the animal is no longer able to breed with other members of the original species. At this point, they would be categorized as their own species. The island of New Guinea is geographically and topographically complex. Many of these genera were able to radiate and evolve based on their own geographic niche. This may explain why there is a relatively high species diversity for such a small island, but the bright colors and crazy mating rituals are another story.

Most species in this family are polygynous, meaning they have more than one mate in their life. Those species that are polygynous are also sexually dimorphic, which means the males and females look different. In the Birds of Paradise family, the males are the stunningly beautiful ones, often with very bright, colorful and iridescent plumage, and females are colorfully drab. Why would nature be so insensitive, you ask? Well, for starters, the males have to be beautiful if they want any chance at attracting a lady bird. This is a very specific form of natural selection called sexual selection.

Sexual selection occurs when the females are so picky in choosing their mates that only the most beautiful males have a chance. In the case of the Birds of Paradise, the males not only have to be the most beautiful, they also have to be the best dancers. Males in this family have very elaborate mating dances to show off their genetic superiority to the females. Hopefully, if the male is talented and beautiful enough, he will be able to mate with a female. So, its actually because of the females that the males have to doll themselves up so much.

There are 14 genera within this family and 40 species. Genera include:

Genus Lycocorax (Paradise Crow)
Genus Manucodia (Manucodes)
Genus Paradigalla (Paradigallas)
Genus Astrapia (Astrapias)
Genus Parotia (Parotias)
Genus Pteridophora (King of Saxony Bird of Paradise)
Genus Lophorina (Superb Bird of Paradise)
Genus Ptiloris (Riflebirds)
Genus Epimachus (Sicklebills)
Genus Drepanornis (3 Birds of Paradise)
Genus Cicinnurus (Standardwing)
Genus Seleucidis (Twelve-Wired Bird of Paradise)
Genus Paradisaea (6 Birds of Paradise)

Many of these genera can hybridize, meaning they can produce offspring with different species. Taxonomists are working hard to figure out which of these genera are actually hybrids between two genera.