Dance skills are important to this blue manakin.
They're how he attracts a mate.
But females prefer group dances.
So the male needs his wingmen as support.
Are their moves good enough to convince her?
The Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, also called Mata Atlantica,
is home to a wide variety of wildlife,
including the blue manakin.
Female birds are a modest olive shade,
but the males are splendidly colorful.
It's fitting that the males' feathers look like stage outfits,
because they spend most of their time perfecting their dance performances.
The alpha male is supported by junior dancers.
Together, they practice almost every day.
Finding the right style to impress, isn't easy at first.
Too much?
Maybe something a bit more gentle...
When the lead male has found his groove,
they're ready to perform their dance to a female.
There's a strict hierarchy among the manakins
and the alpha male is often the oldest bird.
Only he has a chance of mating.
The others are just wingmen.
So why do they dance, when they have no prospect of mating?
They don't actually have a choice.
A female won't mate with a lone dancer.
So every male must join a group and wait his turn.
It may take as long as 10 years to become the top bird.
And in that time, a male will have danced
for thousands upon thousands of exhausting hours.
The moment of truth.
The lead male performes his final moves.
The others bow…
Have they done enough?
What's her decision?
This female is not impressed.
More practice is clearly required.
Back to the training ground.
She's very choosy for a reason,
as she has to do all the work of protecting their young.
Females have olive feathers to reduce the chances of being seen.
But they also need luck
because forest inhabitants like coatis are adept at sniffing out a meal.
And eggs are just as acceptable as insects to these generalists.
Only a few nest attempts are successful
and a mother with chicks is a rare sight.
But aside from hungry coatis, the manakins are facing another problem.
One of the greatest threats to the remaining forest is the growth of cities.
Today, over 70% of Brazil’s population
lives within what was once Mata Atlantica forest.
That's 140 million people.
And Brazil's towns and cities continue to expand into the forest.
Blue manakins dance within earshot of the traffic.
They can survive for now in small pockets of forest.
But for a young male like this, the future is uncertain.
It will be 10 years before he will have a chance to lead his own display team.
Hopefully, the forest will still exist when he's ready to breed.
Want to see more colorful birds? Check out our parrots!