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Birds are well known for their elaborate courtship displays, but few match the complexity and intrigue of the ritualistic dances performed by tropical manakins. Gorgeous male lance-tailed manikins leap frog over one another on horizontal limbs as they attempt to win favor with prospective mates. If the female shows interest, one dancer moves off stage as the other continues to curry favor with a flurry of bright colors, song, and motion. Such cooperative displays present one of the enduring puzzles in biology because the dancer that leaves is apparently sacrificing his own self-interest to help others. Dr. Emily DuVal has studied the complexities of this riddle since 1999 and will provide a behind-the-scenes look at why some males cooperate in courtship displays, the role of female choice in this unusual male behavior, and the lessons learned from studying changes in males' behavior across entire lifetimes of individual birds. When Dr. DuVal is not studying manakins, she helps to produce a new generation of ardent field biologists through popular animal behavior and ornithology classes at FSU.
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