Wander With Wild Things

Maybe I should call it "Saturday Shocking Story" since "Friday Fun Fact" can never seem to come out of me on Friday!

But this one is a gem, reported in National Geographic News last week and it is 100% true, I swear.

Seems like songbird couples and human couples are, well, birds of a feather. Take, for example, the Peruvian warbling antbird (Really? They couldn't come up with a catchier name for it than that? Ah, ornithologists, I expected better!), seen on the right. Monogamy is very rare in the animal kingdom, but it appears these birds do try (Well, at least the girls do. Sound familiar, ladies?). When a male and female (Mr. and Mrs. Antbird if you please) pair is approached by another antbird couple, they sing a harmonic and coordinated territorial song, proclaiming their union and their stake on their choice piece of property.

However, if a single female (young Miss Antbird) approaches, the Mr. continues his melodious song to her, while the Mrs. changes her song to a loud, discordant signal that covers up her mate's attempts to flirt with the would-be homewrecker!

I think, translated into English, it would play out something like this:

Miss: "Hey there, fella, how YOU doin?"
Mr: "Hey baby, you are one fine..."
Mrs: "OH NO YOU DON'T! MISS THANG, YOU BETTA GET YOUR SKANKY LITTLE FEATHERS OUTTA THIS JOINT!"

Some conversations are just universal...