Isn’t it amazing what we continue to learn about the many creatures with whom we share this planet? All 39 species of the remarkable and distinctive birds of paradise show in this video are only found deep in the rainforests of New Guinea. It has taken years to track these birds and study their unique behaviors—and plumage—all so we can learn more about Nature’s remarkable survival strategies.

What can we learn from these creatures about shape and form? Or color—these birds often display very complex color patterns? And come to that, pattern recognition—with all that complexity, how do they learn to recognize mates? Plus, I’m certain some of those odd feather arrangements have an effect on balance and stabilization during takeoff and landing, another area where we can learn from nature.

According to Nature, there are “8.7 million eukaryotic species on our planet—give or take 1.3 million.” But the number of species documented only recently hit 1.9 million. Meaning that we have another 6.8 to 8.1 million species yet to identify and study. That’s right: between 78% to 81% of our closest neighbors are unknown to us.

What can we learn from them that help us build a sustainable revolution?