The WPT Learned a Word of the Day

Hi, everyone. Today’s word is “frugivorous” which describes a diet consisting primarily of fruit. I found this word while researching this week’s bird, the spangled cotinga. Cotingas live in a wide variety of habitats throughout much of Central and South America, and can be broadly broken down into groups which co-parent their young, and those which do not. In birds where only the females raise the young, the males have spectacular plumage to help with courtship displays, although I think the female I’ve included here has a pretty good mottle going. Another thing I learned is that these courtship displays happen in groups called leks. Its like that Futurama where its mating time on Zoidberg’s planet and he is the only one left on the beach. Nature documentaries always make it seem like there is one male strutting and dancing, but apparently its a group activity just like the show depicted. Happy holiday weekend to those who celebrate Passover or Easter. Be good to each other, friends.

Female spangled cotinga
Male spangled cotinga