Species group · Birds

Birds-of-paradise

WAnimals has 3 species of bird-of-paradise, all in the family Paradisaeidae.

3 species
1 family
2 countries
4 parks
Weight
50 g – 320 g
Length
16 cm – 1 m
Lifespan
10 – 20 years

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 3.

All 3 species of birds-of-paradise on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Least Concern

Western Superb Bird-of-Paradise

Lophorina superba

2 countries3 parks
Least Concern

Greater Bird-of-Paradise

Paradisaea apoda

2 countries1 park
Near Threatened

Wilson's Bird-of-paradise

Cicinnurus respublica

2 countries

Conservation status

2 Least Concern1 Near Threatened

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

See the global conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 2 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…

  • The male spreads a cape of black feathers that soak up as much as 99.95% of the light falling on them, a black so deep that his bill and eyes seem to float as he displays.

    From Western Superb Bird-of-Paradise

  • What was taken for a single species for decades was split into two in 2018, after differences in the courtship dance and in the anatomy were analysed.

    From Western Superb Bird-of-Paradise

  • Its black plumage is one of the darkest biological materials known: it absorbs up to 99.95% of visible light thanks to brush-shaped microstructures on the barbs of the feathers, a black comparable to the ultra-black materials made in laboratories.

    From Western Superb Bird-of-Paradise

  • Its scientific name means footless: the first specimens to reach Europe in the sixteenth century were skins prepared by Malay traders with the feet and wings removed, which led naturalists to believe that these birds floated perpetually in the air and never perched.

    From Greater Bird-of-Paradise

  • Alfred Russel Wallace spent months in the Aru Islands watching its leks, and his descriptions of the displays were central to the development of his ideas on sexual selection.

    From Greater Bird-of-Paradise

  • The males clear and sweep a particular patch of forest floor as a dance stage before each courtship display.

    From Wilson's Bird-of-paradise

  • The bare turquoise-blue skin of its head is so intense that it is visible at night, and comes not from pigment but from the microscopic structure of the skin itself.

    From Wilson's Bird-of-paradise

  • The male meticulously clears a stage on the forest floor, removing every fallen leaf, so that nothing distracts from the display of colour with which he courts from a vertical vine just above.

    From Wilson's Bird-of-paradise

Ecosystems

See every species group · Explore the species one by one