The bird that sings with its feathers!!!

Here's a cool interesting fact I learned today about a small bird, commonly known as the club winged managin(Machaeropterus deliciosus. Males of the species produce a beeping sound with their...feathers!

Enjoy:

Well, that was cute 😂

Apparently, this ability evolved as a result of sexual selection. Here's a bit more info from Wikipedia on how they are able to produce these sounds with their feathers:

Each wing of the club-winged manakin has one feather with a series of at least seven ridges along its central vane. Next to the strangely ridged feather is another feather with a stiff, curved tip. When the bird raises its wings over its back, it shakes them back and forth over 100 times a second (hummingbirds typically flap their wings only 50 times a second). Each time it hits a ridge, the tip produces a sound. The tip strikes each ridge twice: once as the feathers collide, and once as they move apart again. This raking movement allows a wing to produce 14 sounds during each shake. By shaking its wings 100 times a second, the club-winged manakin can produce up to 1,400 single sounds during that time. In order to withstand the repeated beating of its wings together, the club-winged manakin has evolved solid wing bones (by comparison, the bones of most birds are hollow, making flight easier). The wing bones are not as efficient for flying, but are what has evolved via sexual selection. source

This sound producing method (by rubbing body parts) is known as stridulation and is really common in the world of insects and other arthropods.

However it's extremely rare in vertebrates, with most examples being snakes. Another interesting example of vertebrate stridulation are lowland streaked tenrecs, that produce a high-pitched noise by rubbing together quills on their back. Just jump to 1:00 of the video below if you are a lazy fucker:

Nature can be so interesting sometimes :)

Posted with STEMGeeks