INTERACTIVE
INTERACTIVE
Birds of Paradise Project
Birds of Paradise Project
Find what few have witnessed in the wild: the displays of color, sound, and motion that make the birds-of-paradise so remarkable. Then delve deeper, examining the principles that guided their evolution and the epic adventure it took to bring you all 39 species.
Grades
K - 12+
Subjects
Biology, Earth Science, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography
Biologist and explorer Edwin Scholes and Tim Laman spent eight years collecting photographs, videos, and sound recordings of all 39 birds-of-paradise species. Now the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has harnessed their trove of media to create an interactive educational website that opens the world of these amazing creatures to all of us. The 35 vivid videos will amaze your students with jaw-dropping footage. They also serve as insightful explorations into the scientific principles that led these spectacular creatures to evolve.
Use this site to teach about evolution and adaptation, inspire wonder about biology, examine the role of sound, color, and dance in animal behavior, explore how continental drift leads to biodiversity, or examine what it takes to be a Cornell biologist or National Geographic photographer.
Credits
Media Credits
The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
Creator
other
Last Updated
August 20, 2026
User Permissions
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.
Media
If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.
Text
Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.
Interactives
Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.