Nature's Interior Designers

Male bowerbirds are among nature's most remarkable architects. To attract females, they construct elaborate bowers — structures made of sticks, decorated with carefully selected objects.

Different species build different types: - Avenue bowers: Two walls of sticks forming a corridor - Maypole bowers: Towers of sticks around a sapling - Cleared courts: Decorated ground displays

The decorations are what make bowers special. Males collect: - Blue objects (feathers, flowers, berries, plastic bottle caps) - Shells and bones - Colorful leaves and petals - Coins, glass, anything shiny

One species, the great bowerbird, uses forced perspective — an optical illusion. They arrange decorations from small (near the bower) to large (far away), making themselves appear larger when standing in front of their display. This is the only known example of forced perspective by a non-human.

Females are harsh critics. They visit multiple bowers, inspecting construction quality and decoration choices. A bower that took weeks to build can be rejected in seconds.

Males don't help raise offspring at all. Their entire reproductive strategy is building the most impressive bower possible. They may spend 9-10 months per year maintaining and improving their structure.

Some researchers consider bower-building evidence of aesthetic appreciation in non-humans — males seem to have individual preferences and creative expression in their designs.