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keep dancing

2022-03-07T23:33:02.805Z


In that male dancer I see reflected the longing that we humans experience to be looked at, appreciated and chosen | Column by Rosa Montero


The Victorian bird of paradise is a bird native to Australia.

It is quite colorful, but its fame comes from the spectacular courtship dance performed by the male.

There is an Instagram user, birds_perfection, who specializes in posting photos of birds.

There I just saw a short video that has left me impressed: a young specimen of this species starts to dance in front of a female.

He unfolds and raises his wings, like someone raising his arms, and hides his head behind each one alternately in an eloquent and melodramatic gesture, just like a Shakespearean actor in full paroxysm of interpretation.

He jumps here and there, sways his body, fluffs his chest until it becomes a ball of feathers, and his gesture of burying his face in the wing (as if he were putting the back of his hand to his forehead) becomes more vertiginous.

When it seems impossible that it could move faster and it is evident that it is at the peak of its display, the female, who has remained nervous and nonchalant the whole time, takes flight and leaves.

She is impressed to see how the poor male stops the dance, how he stays with his wings outstretched like a fool (all that useless offering), literally open-mouthed, that is, open-billed, contemplating with glassy eyes how the girl leaves.

I can't forget the strenuous effort of the poor little bird and his grief.

They are some moving images (it is worth seeing them, either on Instagram or by putting in the search engine

It is impressive to see how the poor male stops the dance, how he stays with his wings outstretched like a fool (all that useless offering), literally open-mouthed, that is, open-billed, contemplating with glassy eyes how the girl leaves.

I can't forget the strenuous effort of the poor little bird and his grief.

They are some moving images (it is worth seeing them, either on Instagram or by putting in the search engine

It is impressive to see how the poor male stops the dance, how he stands with his wings outstretched like a fool (all that useless offering), literally open-mouthed, that is, open-billed, contemplating with glassy eyes how the girl leaves.

I can't forget the strenuous effort of the poor little bird and his grief.

They are some moving images (it is worth seeing them, either on Instagram or by putting in the search engine

Female Victoria's riflebird unimpressed by mating dance

).

Many years ago I spoke of another extraordinary courtship ritual, that of manta rays, a huge sea creature that can reach a wingspan of eight meters and weigh 1,400 kilos.

Well, this gentle oceanic colossus is capable of propelling its ton of meat out of the water to an incredible height, and fly doing pirouettes before hurtling back into the sea and giving itself a formidable belly-thump between waves of foam.

There is a BBC video that shows these jumps and that must be among the most beautiful images I have ever seen in my life (Google

More from BBC Earth - Mobula rays of Mexico

).

When the filming was done, in 2015, they were supposed to be courting males, but a major study published in 2018 showed that they were females who, when looking for a mate, start swimming at full speed followed by a queue of applicants, among those who choose the fastest and strongest.

And her spectacular jumps are to attract attention and make the crowd of males as large as possible (I love these determined and athletic females).

All this effort of the manta rays, and the painful stomachs in the water, lead to a sexual coupling that lasts only 30 seconds.

And I don't think the birds of paradise will spend much more time on their business.

Why is it that I find more and more similarities between human beings and other animals?

I can easily recognize us in that anticipatory excitement, in the eager display of the best version of oneself, in the throbbing frenzy.

And then, too often, in the anticlimax of reality.

Of course genes are tyrants.

Schopenhauer already said: love is a trick of nature to achieve the perpetuation of the species.

The sublime thrill of flight and the reassuring achievement of mating may be enough for manta rays, but in our species, with the complicated heads we have,

And I'm not just talking about passionate and sexual love.

I'm talking about the basic need to be loved, something that happens not only to us, but also to many other animals, such as dogs.

That's why I've been so moved by this disdained male dancer, with his expression of terrified disbelief and his beautiful, useless surrender.

And it is that I see reflected in it that essential longing that we humans experience to be looked at, appreciated and chosen.

To this little bird, and to all the birds in the world, with or without feathers, I recommend not to faint, try again and keep dancing.

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Source: elparis

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