In Part One of NATURE’s “What Females Want and Males Will Do,” meet Gail Patricelli, a biologist who is using technology to learn more about sexual selection among sage grouses in Wyoming. Out on the lek, an area of land designated by the sage grouses for courtship, she launches a robotic model of a sage grouse female.
Using a camera in the robot’s head and an array of microphones positioned nearby, Gail and her team hope to learn more about the male sage grouse’s extravagant courtship behavior. Part of the 26th season of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series produced by Thirteen/WNET New York for PBS, “What Females Want and Males Will Do” premieres over two Sundays, April 6 and 13, at 8 p.m. (check local listings). Major support provided by Canon U.S.A. Inc., Toyota, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/nature