We all know that dancing is a communication tool that transcends borders and nationalities. It makes it easier to connect with the people around us, and it works nonverbally. Dancing also helps to socialize with others, and especially children can benefit from this because the communication is on a deeper level and they can make some new friends. Anyway, not only humans received the ability to dance from nature, but other species on this planet have also gotten this skill from nature. While we dance for fun to let out our emotions, decrease stress, or improve our fitness, the dances that are used by animals have a way more important reason. It helps them to communicate the location of food sources or find a mating partner, which is one of their most important tasks in life.

One of these “dancing” animals is the Victoria’s Riflebird. The Victoria’s riflebird, whose scientific name is “Ptiloris victoriae”, can usually be found in Australia, in the north-eastern part of Queensland. Also, they do not migrate during the winter season like some other birds and animals do.
It belongs to the species of birds of paradise. Its name comes from the Greek words “ptiloris” which can be translated to feathered nose, and “victoriae” which comes from Queen Victoria of England, because its colors resemble the uniform colors of the British riflemen during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The adult birds can reach a height of 23 cm.

The feather dress of an adult male bird is black, and its breast feathers have a greenish-blue color. It also has a bronze and yellow shine on its underparts. Moreover, the Victoria’s riflebird lives on small insects, for example, spiders, but fruit is also included in his diet.
Their courtship season is from July to December, and the male birds sing and display themselves while defending their spots from other male rivals.
In order to call their female counterpart, the male birds make a high, grinding sound. Also, they try to attract the opposite gender by dancing. This dance starts with a motionless posture of the bird and is followed by more movements that signal its mating intentions to the female bird. They twist their wings and swing their heads. Then, the male gets closer to the female bird and performs aggressive clapping movements that almost lead to the female being hit.
This mating ritual of the Victoria’s riflebird was discovered in the 19th century by Western naturalists. However, we still do not know a lot about why they behave like this. There are many open questions, for example, what do the female birds find so attractive about the male’s behavior, and if or how do males change their dance performance depending on the female? In general, it is not clear what criteria and influences have an impact on the dance of the male bird.

Also, an interesting fact about Victoria’s riflebird that makes it an interesting study topic is that young male birds that have not reached adulthood yet practice their display with other male mates.

To conclude, the Victoria’s riflebird is a bird with many undiscovered features, especially its unique mating dance, which can be analyzed even more in the future.

Sources:
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/birds-of-paradise/victorias-riflebird/
https://www.craterlakes.com.au/wildlife/birds/victorias-riflebird/
https://www.theexpressnewspaper.com.au/discover-the-display-and-dancing-of-victoria-s-riflebird-2023-10-18
https://animalia.bio/victorias-riflebird