David Attenborough travels to south Australia to listen to the incredible sounds of the Lyrebird. The birds are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Listen as this lyrebird not only mimics the sounds of surrounding birds but chainsaws, car alarms and camera shutters.
The clip is from the BBC series Life of Birds. Although it may appear the bird was spotted in the wild and was imitating sounds from the surrounding area, Hollis Taylor for The Conversation explains:
“He fails to mention that two of his three lyrebirds were captives, one from Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary and the other from Adelaide Zoo. This latter individual, Chook, was famed for his hammers, drills, and saws, sounds he reputedly acquired when the Zoo’s panda enclosure was built. Hand-raised from a chick, he was also known to do a car alarm, as well as a human voice intoning ‘hello, Chook!’ He died in 2011, aged 32.”
The fact remains that the actual mimicry in this video is authentic and an amazing skill to witness. The Sifter salutes the talented lyrebird.
*update* I had to include the parody video below because it’s too funny not to share 🙂
