We once again are diving into a Chattersode and exploring the world of animals. Specifically, what our favorite animals, and even more specifically, our favorite birds are! Why are so granular about it? We have a lot to say about these birds and why they’re so amazing, so tune in to hear about some amazing mimics, minds, and mischievious birds of the animal kingdom.
Our first bird, the Superb Lyrebird, is a fancy singing little guy who lives in Australia. He’s named for the way his tail feathers look like the lyre instrument!
Here’s a basic list of facts about the Superb Lyrebird that you might find interesting.
And here’s the more technical factsheet for them like where they live and how they breed, if you’re into those kinds of facts.
This is just an article I found interesting about how the Lyrebird with it’s little dirt stages and love of general dirt moving is helping to keep the forest healthy.
And what you’ve been waiting for, the David Attenborough clip of the bird making it’s various sounds!
Alex the Parrot, from what I can tell, was the first animal to ask an existential question. It was novel and amazing that he asked his own questions in the first place, but when presented with a mirror, he considered himself and asked, “What color?” And he learned he was gray.
This is the Alex Foundation. It links to the researchers who spent decades working with Alex, links to the research they were doing with him, and other things.
This article talks about Alex’s accomplishments during his time in the study.
This is an article from Scientific American about about Alex and mentioning Sheba, the only other animal to ask an existential question. This article is about Alex’s mathematical genius.
This has all those technical facts about the African Grey Parrot in general like where they live in the wild, what they eat, how they breed, etc.
And here is a video about Alex and his trainer, the research who worked with him all those years.
We went through several birds that might have been Karen’s favorite, several just coming from me being silly. So here’s a little slideshow of the ones I mentioned.
But this is the real one! This majestic, flightless icicle here, the Emperor Penguin.
Here are some facts about the Emperor Penguin for you, if you’re curious beyond what we said on the episode.
And here’s the technical facts about the penguin like where they live, how they breed, etc.
Do you know why penguins toboggan? Are you curious about it if you didn’t know? Well, here’s a little article explaining why they do it!
The video of what these guys sound like!
Just for fun, M talked briefly about the soundtrack to the March of the Penguin movie and how there’s a huge difference between the English-language version and the French. So for fun, we’re dropping the French music here for you. Enjoy, cause it’s really amazing.
And because Remy is extra, his least favorite bird, this derpy little thing. This is the Great Potoo. Let it stare into your soul.
Out of fairness, here are some facts about the Potoo.
And the video so you can hear their weird bird call.
If you want more facts about them, this is a really good video you can watch that has a lot of information about why they’re actually a really cool bird, even if Remy doesn’t really like them much.
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