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Endangered Australian songbird ‘losing its song’
SYDNEY, March 17, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Australia’s endangered regent
honeyeater bird is losing its song, a sign that it could be nearing
extinction, scientists warned in new research released on Wednesday.
A rapid decline in the rare songbird means its young are struggling to
learn mating calls as adults disappear, according to researchers at the
Australian National University.
Male regent honeyeaters sang rich, complex tunes in more populated
habitats, but resorted to simplified songs elsewhere, the scientists wrote in
a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the Royal
Society B.
Lead author Ross Crates said the findings were a “major warning sign the
regent honeyeater is on the brink of extinction” — and the loss of song
knowledge could also reduce chances of mating.
“It could also be exacerbating the honeyeater’s population decline,
because we know a sexy song increases the odds of reproduction in songbirds.”
Scientists found 18 regent honeyeaters, or around 12 percent of the total
remaining male population, who could only mimic other species’ songs — not
their own.
“This lack of ability to communicate with their own species is
unprecedented in a wild animal,” study co-author Dejan Stojanovic said.
“We can assume that regent honeyeaters are now so rare that some young
males never find an older male teacher.”
Scientists estimate just a few hundred regent honeyeaters remain in the
wild.
The rare bird, with its black and yellow markings, was once found across
much of eastern Australia but is now largely confined to eucalyptus forests
in the country’s southeast.
The study also found regent honeyeaters born in captivity have different
songs that could reduce their attractiveness to wild birds.
The scientists now hope to teach the captive birds to sing like their wild
counterparts, by playing them audio recordings.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0944 hrs