Richard Prum on Birds, Beauty, and Finding Your Own Way
Conversations with Tyler
Conversations with Tyler
4.8 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 30 June 2021
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Richard Prum really cares about birds. Growing up in rural Vermont, he didn't know anyone else interested in birding his own age. The experience taught him to rely on his own sense of curiosity and importance when deciding what questions and interests are worth studying. As a result, he has pursued many different paths of research in avian biology — such as behavioral evolution, where feathers come from, sexual selection and mate choice — many of which have led to deep implications in the field. In 2017, Tyler agreed with several prominent outlets that Prum's book The Evolution of Beauty was one of the best books of the year, writing that it "offers an excellent and clearly written treatment of the particulars of avian evolution, signaling theory, and aesthetics, bringing together some disparate areas very effectively."
Richard joined Tyler to discuss the infidelity of Australian birds, the debate on the origins of avian flight, how the lack of a penis explains why birds are so beautiful, why albatrosses can afford to take so many years to develop before mating, the game theory of ornithology, how flowers advertise themselves like a can of Coke, how modern technology is revolutionizing bird watching, why he's pro-bird feeders yet anti- outdoor cats, how scarcity predicts territoriality in birds, his favorite bird artist, how Oilbirds got their name, how falcons and cormorants hunt and fish with humans, whether birds exhibit a G factor, why birds have regional accents, whether puffins will perish, why he's not excited about the idea of trying to bring back passenger pigeons, the "dumb question" that marks a talented perspective ornithologist, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded May 20th, 2021
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Thumbnail photo credit: Russell Kaye
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, |
| 0:08.4 | bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems. |
| 0:12.5 | Learn more at mercatis.org. |
| 0:15.2 | And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit |
| 0:20.4 | ConversationsWithT Tyler.com. |
| 0:27.0 | Hello everyone and welcome back to ConversationsWithT Tyler. |
| 0:30.6 | Today I'm talking with Richard Pram of Yale University. |
| 0:34.2 | I spotted Richard in the field some while ago and classified him as great American ornithologist. |
| 0:41.5 | Richard, welcome. |
| 0:43.0 | Hey, thank you. Great to be here. |
| 0:45.4 | Why is there so much infidelity in Australian birds in particular? |
| 0:51.3 | Well, I don't think that there probably is an extraordinary amount of infidelity in Australian |
| 0:56.6 | birds. |
| 0:57.6 | However, there are certainly a number of classic cases of multiple mating in Australian |
| 1:01.9 | birds, or the classic being either fairy-rends, which have a very weird social system, including |
| 1:07.4 | one feature, which is multiple mating. |
| 1:10.4 | And how well can we explain why fairy-rends are different in their mating practices? |
| 1:15.2 | Right, how much explanatory power does ornithology have there? |
| 1:19.0 | We need to talk a little bit about what makes fairy-rends extraordinary in other ways. |
| 1:23.3 | Fairy-rends live in cooperative groups, extended families that include multiple males and females |
| 1:29.8 | of reproductive age. |
| 1:31.5 | Usually a large number of them are the least male offspring of previous years that are |
... |
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