Science22.11.2022 - 12:00

Bird thought to be extinct 140 years ago found in the forests of Papua New Guinea

The black pheasant pigeon, thought to be extinct, was found in the forests of Papua New Guinea.

Фото: from open sources

In Papua New Guinea, they found a bird that was long thought to be extinct. It is about the black pheasant pigeon, which is the only representative of the genus pheasant pigeons.

The bird was declared extinct 140 years ago. However, an expedition group organized by an international team of scientists discovered it on the volcanic rocky island of Fergusson.

The search for the bird went on for more than a month. Scientists tried to find the black pheasant pigeon exactly where the species was originally documented.

Because the search was complicated by the mountainous terrain of Fergusson Island, the expedition was no longer hoping to find the bird, but just two days before the expedition ended, it was captured by a camera trap.

As one of the expedition leaders and director of the Lost Bird Search program at the American Bird Conservancy John Mittermeier noted, finding a rare bird is comparable to finding a unicorn.

Advertisement