HANOI (AFP) – A "bald" bird discovered in Laos is Asia's first new species of bulbul, or songbird, in more than 100 years, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said Thursday.
Scientists from the Society, as well as the University of Melbourne, identified the bird, which has "a bald head", WCS said in a news release.
This undated handout picture received from the Wildlife Conservation Society shows a "bald" bird newly discovered in Laos' Savannakhet province. The "bald" bird discovered in Laos is Asia's first new species of bulbul, or songbird, in more than 100 years, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said. (AFP/University of Melbourne/Iain Woxvold)They reported their findings in the July issue of Forktail, the scientific journal of the Oriental Bird Club, a United Kingdom charity.
"This paper describes for the first time in over 100 years a new Asian species of bulbul," the scientists wrote of their discovery late last year in an area of limestone karsts in Laos's Savannakhet province.
The bird, named the Bare-faced Bulbul, is not completely bald but has a narrow line of hair-like feathers down the centre of its crown. It also has a distinctive featherless, pink face with bluish skin around the eye extending to the bill, said the Society, which manages urban wildlife parks including the Bronx Zoo in New York.
"Its apparent restriction to rather inhospitable habitat helps to explain why such an extraordinary bird with conspicuous habits and a distinctive call has remained unnoticed for so long," said Iain Woxvold, the University of Melbourne scientist who was part of the team that made the discovery.
Limestone karsts remain among the least studied ecosystems in Southeast Asia, he and the other scientists wrote in their journal article.
Bald songbird discovered in Laos
Griet Scheldeman, BBC News 30 Jul 09;
Scientists have discovered a striking new species of bald songbird in a limestone region of South East Asia.
Its inhospitable habitat, far from any human activity or settlement, may explain why this unusual creature has evaded researchers until now.
The bald-headed bird was spotted by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Melbourne.
This is the first new bulbul to have been discovered in 100 years.
The newly discovered bulbul is also the first bald songbird to be spotted in mainland Asia.
Exciting discovery
The researchers reported their discovery of the new species, which they aptly named the bare-faced bulbul, in Forktail, the journal of the Oriental Bird Club.
They described the new tree-dwelling bird as olive-green with a light-coloured breast and an exceptional featherless orange-pink and pale blue face.
The thrush-sized bird makes short flights from tree to tree and has a short distinctive call, the researchers said.
"The bird was neither skulking nor shy", they wrote, "but rather conspicuous in its habits".
Dr Peter Clyne, assistant director for Asia at the WCS, told BBC News that the discovery of a new species of animal was always an exciting event, and that it turned the spotlight on conservation issues.
The scientists reported that the new bulbul, who inhabits a protected area in central Laos, is safe for now. But more work is needed to ensure it is not put in danger by future human activities.
A bird in the net
After initially spotting and recording sounds from the new bird on 3 December 2008 in Pha Lom, a limestone outcrop in central Laos, researchers Iain Woxvold and Will Duckworth managed to "mist net" two birds a couple of days later, by playing back the initial bird's song.
"Mist netting is a standard technique used in ornithology studies to capture small, typically forest-type birds," said Dr Clyne.
"You put up a fine net that is very hard to see because it is black. Usually, the birds do not detect it in time, so they fly into the net."
He added: "They're perfectly safe. You collect the bird out of the net, then you can take measurements of its weight and wing length for example."
The discovery was made during a scheme funded by the Minerals and Metals Group mining company that operates a copper and gold project in the region.
Dr Clyne, who was involved in negotiations with the company, said: "This is an example of how a conservation organisation can work with a natural resource extraction industry co-operatively for the benefit of both.
"There's a lot of research to be done on this animal, we just discovered it. The first step is to continue to do some basic research on its distribution, its dietary needs, and its habitat requirements."
The scientists reported that they collected one bird to deposit in the Natural History Museum at Tring, UK, and photographed and blood-sampled the other one before it escaped.
In February 2009, they compared their findings with material in the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, which confirmed that they had indeed discovered a new species.
So far, the researchers believe they may have spotted a maximum of seven birds in total.
The researchers explained that future research was needed, not only for the bare-faced bulbul, but for all the limestone areas in South East Asia, as many new plant and animal species remained to be discovered.
In 2002, for example, in the same area, co-author and researcher Rob Timmins of WCS, described the kha-nyou, a newly discovered species of rodent. Three years before, he had discovered a unique striped rabbit.
Dr Clyne commented: "There are still quite a lot of places in Laos that have not yet been explored."
New Songbird Sports Wispy "Mohawk"
National Geographic News 29 Jul 09;
July 29, 2009—Sporting a mostly bald head, this new songbird species, dubbed the bare-faced bulbul, has been discovered on rugged limestone peaks in Laos.
The thrush-size creature is the first bald songbird yet discovered in mainland Asia and one of only 40 or so known bald songbirds in the world, say experts with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Australia's University of Melbourne, who found the species.
The bulbul, described in the current issue of the journal Forktail, is covered with greenish-olive feathers. The bird mostly lacks plumage on its face and head, with the exception of a mohawk-like line of wispy feathers down the center of its crown.
Researchers found the new species in forests growing on the sides of tower-like limestone structures called karsts.
Most of Laos's forested karsts lie within legally protected areas. Still, there's a chance that quarrying limestone for road construction in similar but unprotected areas could endanger the songbird and other wildlife, experts say.
Any exact risks to the bird are still unknown, as the team spotted only a handful of the birds living on a single rocky outcropping, so the species' total population size and range have yet to be determined.
Scientists are also not sure why the Laotian bulbul—or any of its songbird relatives, for that matter—is bald.
In famously bald-headed vultures, a lack of head feathers is thought to help the scavengers keep clean.
"Vultures bury their heads in carrion, and cleaning all that would be difficult," said WCS conservationist Peter Clyne, who was not involved in the discovery.
The reason for baldness in songbirds is less clear, but it may have something to do with mating displays, Clyne said.
—Ker Than