The video below shows David Attenborough with a superb lyrebird, which has the remarkable talent to mimic other bird species’ songs and sounds. Additionally, the lyrebird can mimic sounds made by the human species. The anthropogenic sounds that this lyrebird can mimic include a camera shutter, a camera with a motor drive, a car alarm, and even a chainsaw! Though, if I were the lyrebird, the sound of chainsaws nearby might be unnerving. The lyrebird is native to Australia, and there are two species—the superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) and Albert’s Lyrebird (Menura alberti), which is supposedly less superb and rarer.
This video shows a superb lyrebird, at the Adelaide Zoo, that can mimic construction work.
In addition to being an accomplished mimic, the male lyrebird puts on an extraordinary display to attract a mate.
Although somewhat reminiscent of a pheasant or peacock, the lyrebird is not a precocial species but altricial (i.e., lyrebirds are large passerines), meaning that they’re less developed than precocial species (e.g., ducks, pheasants, or peacocks) when they hatch, so the chicks must be raised in a nest until they’re capable to leave the nest. Some bird species are superprecocial (e.g., black-headed ducks and moundbuilders or the megapodes, which leave the nest with flight feathers), meaning these species leave the nest even more able than precocial species. For example, an altricial hatchling (top) vs. some precocial ducklings (middle) vs. a superprecocial brush-turkey hatchling (bottom):
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Photo source for attribution here, here, here, and here. The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.
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