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Scientists have captured a song bird performing a never-before-seen tap dance to get laid

BlueCappedCordonBleuFinch
Rebecka71/Wikimedia Commons

When humans flirt, we rub sweet-smelling scents into our skin and turn on the charm. When blue-capped cordon bleu birds flirt, they ... tap dance.

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This evidence of unusually sweet dance moves in this species of songbird came as a surprise to a team of researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan, who captured the dance for the first time with high-speed video.

This jazzy coordination not only rivals the likes of Shirley Temple, but it may signal to their mates that they're healthy and strong, the team reported Nov. 19 in the journal Scientific Reports.

And now you can see the boogie in full detail, thanks to a video uploaded by National Geographic's YouTube channel.

Previously, researchers knew that blue-capped cordon bleus flirt by singing and bobbing up and down to grab a partner's attention. Here's a male singing and bobbing at a female.

But when the researchers slowed down the speed of the video, they saw that he was performing a surprisingly swift two-step as well.

The bird performs the tap pretty quickly — in about the time it takes to blink your eye – which is why this behavior has been hidden from researchers in the past. The team also found that both males and females perform this dance, and they tend to take more steps the closer an attractive mate is to them. They'll tap faster if a partner is on the same perch, for example, the researchers reported.

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The dance may have an important function. If a bird can maintain this intense coordination of singing, bobbing, and tapping for a time, even several minutes, it may tell a mate that they are healthy and strong. The rapid movements may also make their plumage appear brighter, and hence more attractive to mates, the researchers report.

And you thought birds were boring.

To see more, check out the entire National Geographic video of a male tap dancing at a female here:

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