Birds: Beautiful Creatures - Amazing Documentary Film

The birds-of-paradise are family members Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. Most species are found in New Guinea and its satellites, with a couple of in the Maluku Islands and eastern Australia. The family has forty-one species in 14 genera. The members of this family are perhaps most ideal known for the plumage of the males of the sexually dimorphic species (the majority), specifically the highly elongated and intricate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail or head. Generally they are confined to dense jungle environment. The diet regimen of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extebirdsnt arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a selection of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-type polygamy.
A number of species are threatened by hunting and habitat loss.
For numerous years the birds-of-paradise were treated as being very closely pertaining to the bowerbirds. Today while both are dealt with as being part of the Australasian family tree Corvida, the 2 are now only believed to be distantly associated. The closest evolutionary family members of the birds-of-paradise are the crow and jay family Corvidae, the king flycatchers Monarchidae and the Australian mudnesters Struthideidae.
A 2009 study examining the mitochondrial DNA of all species to analyze the relationships within the family and to its local relatives estimated that the family emerged 24 million years ago, older than previous estimations. The study determined 5 clades within the family, and put the split between the very first clade, which has the virginal manucodes and paradise-crow, and all the various other birds-of-paradise, to be 10 million years ago. The 2nd clade consists of the parotias and the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise. The 3rd clade provisionally includes a variety of genera, Seleucidis, the Drepanornis sicklebills, Semioptera, Ptiloris and Lophorina, however assistance values for several of these is inclusions is reduced. The fourth clade consists of the Epimachus sicklebills, Paradigalla and the astrapias. The final clade includes the Cicinnurus and the Paradisaea birds-of-paradise.