The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise (''Seleucidis melanoleucus'') is a medium-sized, approximately long, velvet black and yellow
bird-of-paradise. The male has a red
iris, long black
bill and rich yellow
plumes along his flanks. From the rear of these plumes emerge twelve blackish, wire-like filaments, which bend back near their bases to sweep forward over the bird's hindquarters. The female is a brown bird with black-barred buffy underparts. Their feet are strong, large-clawed and pink in color.
The display dance of the twelve-wired bird of paradise is called a ''wire-wipe display'' and it is performed by males to attract females by showing their flank plumes and bare pigmented thighs. Males use their 12 flank plume "wires" to make contact with the female by brushing across the female's face and foreparts.
The sole representative of the
monotypic genus ''Seleucidis'', the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is a bird of
lowland forests. The male displays on an exposed vertical perch with his breast-shield flared. Their diet consists mainly of
fruits and
arthropods
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
in addition to frogs, insects, and nectar.
They are found in flat lowlands and swamp forests,
[ particularly throughout New Guinea and Salawati Island, Indonesia. The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,]captivity
Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...
. The first successful captive breeding program was at Singapore's Jurong Bird Park, in 2001.
Gallery
File:Seleucidis melanoleucus-20090124.jpg, Female
File:Seleucidis melanoleucus - 20030511.jpg, A male in Jurong Bird Park
References
External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet
Video showing Bird-of-Paradise courting a female
Tim Laman. Jayapura
Jayapura (formerly Dutch: ''Hollandia'') is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is situated on the northern coast of New Guinea island and covers an area of . The city borders the Pacific Ocean and Yos Sudarso ...
Western New Guinea. June 2010.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q795568
twelve-wired bird-of-paradise
Birds of New Guinea
twelve-wired bird-of-paradise