I was entirely unfamiliar with Nature Is Amazing (a Twitter channel that bears some small resemblance to WTF, Evolution, though NIA focuses more on behavior than on bodies) until a few minutes ago I was reading a post on the latest in DudeBro culture written by David Futrelle over at WeHuntedTheMammoth. There I learned the important lesson that whether or not dudebro behavior is natural or nurtured, some dudbro behavior isn’t all bad:
Well i tried to high five the cat😍 pic.twitter.com/gdSPBOSRfb
— Nature is Amazing 🌴 (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 2, 2017
Being a dutiful skeptic, I investigated the source of this so-called evidence of redeeming cuteness in some local populations of dudebros. While there, I found evidence for non-mammalian animals experiencing something that might be called “fun” or “curiosity” or both:
A Brazilian bird bounces a golf ball off the cart path! 😮⛳ pic.twitter.com/qJpIEkzCIy
— Nature is Amazing 🌴 (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 3, 2017
Golf course hazards are apparently more diverse than I thought. My biggest question after watching this second video, however, was just who was holding that bird’s beer? Other people, of course, might wonder just what kind of bird this is and how common it is for non-mammalian animals to show evidence of having evolved a flexible intelligence that includes the capacity to have fun.
If you have (suggested) answers to any of those questions, please do leave your answers below.
You might enjoy looking into corvids — highly intelligent, social, playful, quite the lovely birds.
I think the Brazilian was playing.
The speculation that BrazilianBird was ‘trying to break an egg’ makes no sense.
If BB wanted to eat an egg, BB would just eat the egg.
It’s not like BB could lick the egg off the sidewalk.