Resonating feathers produce courtship song in rare bird
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - 16:14
in Biology & Nature
Four years ago, a researcher reported a bizarre example of sexual selection in a rare South American bird: The male attracts the female by rubbing specialized wing feathers -- more than 100 cycles per second -- to create a high hum, similar to a sustained violin note. While the researchers speculated how the sound was created, they have since proven that the club-winged manakin's feathers resonate at a particular frequency to create the tone.