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‘…Fancy Crows Drunk on Sex’ topic of IMNH presentation

November 6, 2007
ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Marketing and Communications

The Idaho Museum of Natural History invites the public to take a vicarious vacation as they present a free lecture by Chuck Trost, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the biological sciences department at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø.

The lecture, titled “Birds of Paradise: Fancy Crows Drunk on Sex,� is scheduled for Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the IMNH museum classroom and is part of the museum’s Armchair Traveler lecture series.

Trost will give a travelogue-style presentation featuring scenery, people and birds. Following his retirement from a 32-year teaching career at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø, Trost has traveled around the world to view and learn about birds, their behaviors and their evolution.

As part of the lecture, Trost will recount his life-changing research sabbatical and expedition to Papua New Guinea to study bowerbirds and birds of paradise.

“Science is sometimes difficult to achieve while camping in a remote tropical forest, even for five months,� said Trost. “My stated purpose for the sabbatical leave was to try to understand the evolution of polygyny (a mating practice in which a male has more than one female sexual partner) in birds of paradise by studying the few species that remain monogamous. I was surprised that I survived. I guess the coolest thing for me was to realize that these birds of paradise were indeed just fancy crows drunk on sex.�

As the current secretary of the Idaho Bird Records Committee, which maintains the official Idaho bird list, Trost also is a recognized authority on the black-billed magpie.

For more information about Trost’s visit, contact Kristin Fletcher at the IMNH at (208) 282-2262 or fletkris@isu.edu.


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