What kind of bird is Big Bird? A scientist explains

Mike sez, "When I was in the early stages of my PhD on the evolution of flightless birds, I was poking round in the storage cabinets of the Berlin Museum of Natural History one summer's day, and I had a revelation -- an original scientific insight. I realised what kind of bird Big Bird almost certainly is. Last month I presented my findings at the Christchurch, New Zealand, PechaKucha #8, and the audio and slides are now live. (A pecha-kucha is a talk in which 20 slides play for exactly 20 seconds each, and the speaker tries to keep up.) All the science is real, and no Big Birds were harmed in the course of this research."

What, if Anything, Is Big Bird? (Thanks, Mike!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Zac

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofy

Goofy is a dog, and a startlingly forward-thinking warning about the dangers of over-breeding.

Also, the video won’t load. I think Boing Boing killed the poor little science site’s bandwidth. Now I’ll never know what Big Bird is!
graywh

Oops. He called Big Bird an adult.
- Brainspore
  
  Oops. He called Big Bird an adult.
  
  According to his bio Big Bird is six years old (as has been since the 1970s). That’s about twice the age when ostriches (the second largest living bird species) reach sexual maturity, so who is to say he’s not an adult?
  - Birdguy
    
    Yes, six years old is well into adulthood for birds, even giant flightless birds, and Grandicrocavis has obviously reached adult size. I think observers are confused by the retention of juvenile characters into adulthood, a phenomenon called paedomophosis I mentioned but didn’t have 20 seconds to discuss, which has already been proposed as the flightlessness mechanism for a number of birds. (The best way to shrink wings is to arrest adult development, which has side-effects like fluffy feathers, and, in the case of G. viasesamensis, naivety.)
    
    W00t I’ve been Boingboinged!
    - MadRat
      
      Congratulations, Birdguy! Nice talk and not without merit, I can honestly say I learned something.
Ignatz

THIS is what I come to BoingBoing for! The answers to really important questions! I love scientific humor, especially biological/ taxonomical gags. I’ve gotta send this to my uncle, the paleontology professor.
Jonathan Badger

Reminds me of the classic Taxonomy of Barney paper.
Robotech_Master

One of my very few memories from my Sesame Street days, about two and a half decades ago, is that Big Bird claims to be a golden condor.
Anonymous

Amazingly, a blue variety of the species exists in europe: do a google image search for Pino.

If they happen to be of different genders, perhaps it’s possible to set up a breeding program for this wonderful and unique bird.
- peterbruells
  
  Also a pink, smaller variety: Tiffy
seyo

he’s an ostrich, everyone knows that! these scientists spend too much time in the lab and not enough time in front of the tv. tv has many answers.
Anonymous

Birds are tricky: “Linnaeus included a group of speciesâ€”the Paradoxaâ€”that confounded his classification or whose actual existence he questioned. Pelicans, for example, were placed in Paradoxa because Linnaeus thought they might reflect the over-fervent imaginations of New World explorers.”

from http://www.pnas.org/content/105/suppl.1/11482.full
- peterbruells
  
  Huh? Why would Linnaeus have thought that? Pelicans live all over the world, they are even mentioned in the bible.
Anonymous

The aristocracy have traditionally been very supportive of taxonomical research. If he wants a blood sample he should speak to the Count.
pinehead

Ha! Well done.
randee

I feel strongly that Big Bird and Kevin must be related somehow. (Reference: “Up”)
Felton

Ah, so Big Bird is a variety of snipe.
morkuma

finally. a good use for scientists in the field of science that are doing science.
EscapingTheTrunk

But can he tell us what Goofy is?
- efergus3
  
  A bad product of genetic engineering? (efergus3)
- Anonymous
  
  Goofy is, and always has been, a dog.
Brainspore

But what about his less famous puppet companion Little Bird? Is it a juvenile? A case of extreme dwarfism? An unrelated species with some superficial morphological convergence?
- devophill
  
  Certainly, Little Bird is a finch?
- Felton
  
  Good question(s). My question is whether they ever figured out that Snuffleupagus was a pygmy mammoth.