The poisonous birds inhabit one of Earth’s most pristine rainforests, a place as exotic as no other in the world. Hearing the words poisonous and bird coupled will be an eye-opener for most. But poisonous birds actually exist. And now, more species have been discovered in New Guinea’s jungles.

“We managed to identify two new species of poisonous birds on our most recent trip. These birds contain a neurotoxin that they can both tolerate and store in their feathers,” says Knud Jønsson of the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

Jønsson and fellow UCPH researcher, Kasun Bodawatta have been on an Indiana Jones-like research trip, risking life and limb to regularly warring tribespeople and ex-cannibals amidst the jaw-dropping biodiversity of New Guinea’s rainforest. Here they captured two new bird species, each of which has developed the ability to consume toxic food and turn that into a poison of their own.

The other new poisonous bird discovered is the The regent whistler (Pachycephala schlegelii). The two birds that the researchers discovered to be poisonous are the regent whistler (Pachycephala schlegelii), a species that belongs to a family of birds with a wide distribution and easily recognizable song well-known from across the Indo-Pacific region, and the rufous-naped bellbird (Aleadryas rufinucha).

Read the full article at: science.ku.dk