The more colourful, the more at risk

Spektrum der Wissenschaft

21.9.2022

Translation: machine translated

Tropical birds are usually much more colourful than species in higher latitudes. This arouses covetousness in the trade and endangers the animals.

On the Indonesian island of Java, at least 75 million birds live in cages as pets; of some species, such as the Java bush starling (Cissa thalassina) or the black-winged mynah (Acridotheres melanopterus), there are now more animals in captivity than in the wild. And Java is just one country among many where wild birds are kept en masse. Rebecca Senior of Durham University and her team have now established a link between the colouration of songbirds and their risk of extinction, as they explain in Current Biology: The more colourful and uniquely coloured a species is, the higher its risk of extinction.

The team's analysis shows that the tropics are the global centre of colourful birds: These regions harbour more than 90 per cent of the most colourful species and almost two-thirds of the species that show a unique colour pattern. At the same time, one third of all bird species are affected by the pet trade. Traffickers target particularly intensively certain related groups that are strikingly intensely coloured and often have unusually melodious voices. For example, they form the core of the Southeast Asian songbird crisis, which is emptying entire forests and causing them to fade away. Also in demand are parrots.

Based on these correlations, the scientists identified another 500 species of songbirds that could increasingly become the focus of trappers and keepers in the future after the stocks of current favourites are depleted. In addition to bright blue, red or yellow species, bright white species are also particularly threatened. A classic example is the Balistar (Leucopsar rothschildi), which is completely white except for its blue eye ring. In the wild, bird catchers had almost completely wiped it out; today it survives only in a few places. And poachers even raided breeding stations to steal the precious animals.

"The loss of colourful species also leads to a direct loss of aesthetic value. This is problematic, as this value is often the main motive and capital for conservation efforts," says Senior. Many people travel around the world to observe such species. If they disappear from the wild, this also reduces the tourism potential of the areas and thus long-term revenues.

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