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Animal artistry

David Attenborough is in the rainforests of New Guinea where female bowerbirds select their mates on the basis of their artistic skill. David looks at the bower of the Vogelkop bowerbird. The male collects red flowers to decorate the 'hut' he has built. The other part of his display is a pile of black, iridescent beetle wing cases. He rearranges the display and calls to attract females to admire it. Each of the local males has different artistic tastes and make personalised displays and the females pick the male whose display they find most appealing.

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2 minutes

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