Study: Most Birds-of-Paradise are Biofluorescent

Image copyright: Wikimedia Commons

The Spin

Narrative A

The discovery of biofluorescence represents a significant evolutionary advantage for these birds, enhancing their elaborate courtship displays and potentially serving as a crucial mechanism for sexual selection and establishing male hierarchy in the species.

Narrative B

The presence of biofluorescence might be merely incidental, similar to how human teeth fluoresce under ultraviolet light without serving any measurable purpose, and further behavioral studies are needed to prove its functional role in these birds definitively.

Metaculus Prediction


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