Probably no one would argue that humans are naturally attracted to beautiful things. And how else could it possibly be when we live on this gorgeous planet where every corner is beaming with nature’s splendid creations, whether that be a scalding hot African desert or a tropical forest soaking with rainwater. It’s all very different but undoubtedly unique in the craziest ways. It’s no wonder why some say nature is the world’s greatest artist and we completely agree with that. We have loads of beautiful nature artifacts here on Bored Panda but today’s story is wonderful proof of how spectacular it can be.
Image credits: The Virginia Zoo
This fancy bird here is a Victoria Crowned Pigeon. And we realize the sight of it is nothing you would expect after reading “a pigeon”. It really is distinct with its bright blue feathers and a beautiful crown on top of its head. It belongs to a Goura family of four unique-looking, ground-dwelling pigeon species. They are also very large as they could reach the size of a turkey!
Image credits: The Virginia Zoo
Image credits: Laura Wolf
This particular species is native to the New Guinea region and got its distinct name to commemorate a great historical figure – the British Queen Victoria who ruled the UK in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
Image credits: Laura Wolf
Image credits: Sandy Cole
These birds are hard to spot roaming wildly as they are the least occurring of all the three crowned pigeon species but are most widely bred in captivity. Deforestation is a great threat to their habitat and therefore, the species is included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened.
Image credits: Kitty Schweizer
Image credits: Bernard Dupont
The fact that female beauties lay only one egg per mating season is not really helping their survival as well. Furthermore, their mating dance is as intricate as one could expect from such a fancy bird.
Image credits: Dennis Jarvis
Image credits: Derek Ramsey
As he approaches the female during courtship, the male Victoria Crowned Pigeon Male bows his head in order to show off his best feature – the spectacular crest. And what ritual would it be without a distinct mating song and a good choreography of rhythmically swinging while intensely wagging its tail like the splendid creature he is. Nature sure is a magician!
Image credits: Heather Paul
Image credits: Jimmy Palma Gil
Image credits: cuatrok77
Image credits: Valerie
Image credits: Edith Maracle (Berghout)
Image credits: saebaryo
Image credits: Cloudtail the Snow Leopard
Image credits: Terry Kearney
Image credits: cuatrok77
Image credits: Unknown
Image credits: cuatrok77
by Judita Kusaitytė via Bored Panda - Source
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