Apparently male sage-grouses, like some people, really aren't picky enough about their mates to discern between the real deal and a dolled up machine. Unlike 90% of other, monogamous birds, it's that oversexed sage-grouse libido that's fueling UC Davis researcher Gail Patricelli's project, designed to learn the innermost secrets about the game birds' mating rituals. The fembot bird (no Austin Powers jokes, please) wheels -- head bobbing -- around all dolled up, just waiting for males to approach and do their mating ritual. Apparently something's working right, too: Patricelli said of her coquette, "The males liked her quite well." We'd rather not dwell on what "quite well" must mean in her line of work, but we're happy for her -- and her cold-hearted fembot -- all the same.
[Via
The Raw Feed]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick @ Feb 12th 2007 7:08AM
its a step in the right direction... we need Fed $ on this.
Joe Smith @ Feb 12th 2007 7:15AM
Pardon me, but does that bird have boobs?
s i d @ Feb 12th 2007 7:20AM
i've bet u've had chicken breasts for dinner sometimes ...
SteveMB @ Feb 12th 2007 8:34AM
Machinegun Jubbilies!
NHAnimator @ Feb 12th 2007 9:04AM
Sounds a lot like how my wife and I met.
SubGenius @ Feb 12th 2007 9:49AM
She's a man baby!
Please alert us when then they begin human trials.
It's a bit nutty.
Andir3.0 @ Feb 12th 2007 10:21AM
I'll bet the researcher wishes for men to puff up and like her "quite well" just by walking by and bobbing her head as well.
cleantone @ Feb 12th 2007 12:11PM
I want a better pic of that RACK! (not the birds) the one with the MOTU gear. Looks to be recording and not playing back. What is the skinny?
Shane @ Feb 13th 2007 12:15AM
First thing I noticed was the rack too...Not the bird...Didn't think that looked like any sort of robotic control gear I knew about...Looked a lot more like audio recording gear.
Check out this site for more details on Gail's projects...
http://www.eve.ucdavis.edu/gpatricelli/Patricelli_Research_Interests.html
The MOTU rack is apparently used for collecting data from 24 Sennheiser K6/Omni microphones to triangulate the position of birds in the field. It runs Digital Performer on a G4 powerbook and includes a MIDI Timepiece AV for synchronization.
Between that and the robotic birds, it's pretty cool stuff!
tom_squick @ Feb 12th 2007 12:12PM
Whoa!
Sam @ Feb 13th 2007 9:34AM
are those his cajones?