The latest Paper of the Month for Bird Conservation International is Poisonous pitohuis as pets and is available as open access. 

In our line of work, we come across new trends in the use of wildlife. Just when we think we have seen it all, something pops up that makes us wonder, now who woke up one day and thought that the blood of a small but noisy lizard could cure AIDS? [The lizard in question is the Southeast Asian Tokay Gecko and no, it does not cure HIV-AIDS, but for a while exceptional large individuals did command very high prices because it was rumoured it did].

But some uses are enshrined in tradition, for instance, the culture of songbird-keeping in Indonesia, involving numerous species from the archipelago. A visit to Indonesia’s bird markets is a startling experience for someone unfamiliar with the bustling distress of crowded cages filled with rare and protected species. Here, popular birds such as the Straw-headed Bulbul are not just exploited for their song and beauty, but over-exploited to the point of extinction. And when they all but vanish, traders and consumers resort to alternatives. In the case of the Straw-headed Bulbul, pitohuis are seen as a suitable replacement.

What’s remarkable about pitohuis – a virtually unknown group of songbirds – is that they are poisonous. Releasing a toxin when handled that causes sneezing with numbness and burning of nasal tissue and nausea somehow means added allure to bird enthusiasts rather than scaring them off.

Our new study, spanning nearly 30 years during which we conducted 800 market surveys across Indonesia reveals a surprising trend: between 1994 and 2014, pitohuis were absent from the markets but since 2015, 113 were documented in physical markets and nearly 200 were offered for sale online.

We document the rise of a poisonous bird being traded and kept as a novelty pet in Indonesia without any consideration being given to any adverse effects of its poison, or on the conservation status of this unique group of species. We found it interesting that discussions in online forums showed that the toxicity is often dismissed as dietary-dependent or irrelevant, as traders focus on their marketability.

So, what lies ahead for the pitohui? It is a stark reminder of the delicate balance between fascination and exploitation – and that trade in novelty species, when detected early, does allow for the authorities to intervene in a timely manner to ensure that this trade does not impede on their conservation.

The paper “Poisonous pitohuis as pets“, by Vincent Nijman, Abdullah Abdullah, Ahmad Ardiansyah, Jessica Chavez, Amanda Fairey, Katherine Hedger, Abdullah Langgeng, S. Sunny Nelson, I. Nyoman Aji Duranegara Payuse, Chris R. Shepherd and K. Anne-Isola Nekaris, published in Bird Conservation International, is available as open access.