animal linkage

[anotheranon]

The UK's favorite David Attenborough moment, in which an Australian lyrebird performs formidable imitations of a camera shutter and a chainsaw (Windows Media) as part of his mating song. I'm not sure whether to be amused because the imitations are so spot-on, or depressed that a wild animal knows what a chainsaw sounds like well enough to mimic it perfectly.

And of course, we've all heard about female mantises eating their mates, but the NY Times has a slideshow of the actual act. NSFW if you work with entymologists. Cool. Morbid, but...cool.

Comments

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

At the Shedd Aquarium, we have Beluga whales. They are known as "canaries of the sea" because of the amazing variety of whistles and calls they can make.

Shortly after they arrived, trainers at the Shedd were puzzled by the observed behavior of some of the Pacific White-Sided Dolphins also on exhibit. They were re-creating their learned "show" behaviors, even when the trainers were not around.

Eventually they realized that the belugas were imitating the whistles of the trainers because they had figured out that the dolphins would do stuff. The belugas were peeking over the wall between the tanks to watch the "show"!

Shedd staff were also startled when a creaky fan in the ceiling kept making noise, even after repeated visits by technicians assured them that it was working fine. You guessed it - our marine mynah-birds were repeating the creaky fan sound as well - guess they liked it!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's hilarious! Not only are they talented mimics, they've figured out that the right imitations make the other animals do stuff!