Colourful wild songbirds are under threat
Unusually coloured songbirds are at risk of extinction because they are in demand as pets, according to a study.
The pet songbird trade in Asia has already pushed several species close to being wiped out, with the birds sought for their beautiful voices.
Now a report has revealed that particular colours of plumage put birds at greater risk of being captured and sold.
Researchers say breeding birds in captivity for the trade could help.
“That won’t work for all species,” said research leader, professor Rebecca Senior, from Durham University. “But there’s hope that we could shift the sourcing of some pet birds – so they are captive-bred rather than caught in the wild.”
Supplying the trade might be controversial, but the researchers believe it could be a practical way to prevent species from disappearing altogether from the wild.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, also showed if the most colourful birds continued to be taken, populations left in Asia’s tropical forests would eventually become “more drab”.