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Summary Poisonous birds are rare but on New Guinea, including Indonesia’s easternmost provinces, no less than nine poisonous species, eight pitohuis and one species of ifrita, are found. Pitohuis when handled can cause sneezing with numbness and burning of nasal tissue and nausea in humans. In the bird markets of western Indonesia novelty birds are traded at a premium and overexploitation of popular songbirds leads traders to find replacement species to meet demand. We conducted over 800 surveys in the bird markets of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, and Sulawesi between 1994 and 2023 and from 2015 onwards we assessed the online trade in pitohuis and Blue-capped Ifrit Ifrita kowaldi. We identified the species, recorded their prices and location, and the date when the birds were offered for sale. We analysed temporal trends, volumes, prices, and geographical origin of the sellers. Between 1994 and 2014 we did not encounter a single pitohui in the Indonesian bird markets. In the following years we recorded 113 pitohuis in 12 bird markets and we recorded 199 pitohuis for sale online; 248 were variable pitohuis and 54 were Hooded Pitohui Pitohui dichrous. No ifritas were recorded. Most pitohuis were recorded in eastern Java and Bali. Prices differed between eastern Java (mean of US$93) and western Java and Bali (US$185), possibly suggesting pitohuis arrive from West Papua in eastern Java and from there make their way to the outer markets. Pitohuis are marketed as “Papuan Straw-headed Bulbuls”; the Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus is a very popular and expensive songbird from Southeast Asia, including western Indonesia, that has become rare both in the wild and in the markets due to overexploitation. Discussions about pitohuis on online forums rarely mention “poisonous” but when it is mentioned traders dismiss this as something not to worry about and they claim it to be dietary-dependent. Poisonous pitohuis are novelty, as well as master, birds in Indonesia, where they are marketed for their song ignoring any negative side-effects of them being poisonous. The 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 their conservation.
Summary Poisonous birds are rare but on New Guinea, including Indonesia’s easternmost provinces, no less than nine poisonous species, eight pitohuis and one species of ifrita, are found. Pitohuis when handled can cause sneezing with numbness and burning of nasal tissue and nausea in humans. In the bird markets of western Indonesia novelty birds are traded at a premium and overexploitation of popular songbirds leads traders to find replacement species to meet demand. We conducted over 800 surveys in the bird markets of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, and Sulawesi between 1994 and 2023 and from 2015 onwards we assessed the online trade in pitohuis and Blue-capped Ifrit Ifrita kowaldi. We identified the species, recorded their prices and location, and the date when the birds were offered for sale. We analysed temporal trends, volumes, prices, and geographical origin of the sellers. Between 1994 and 2014 we did not encounter a single pitohui in the Indonesian bird markets. In the following years we recorded 113 pitohuis in 12 bird markets and we recorded 199 pitohuis for sale online; 248 were variable pitohuis and 54 were Hooded Pitohui Pitohui dichrous. No ifritas were recorded. Most pitohuis were recorded in eastern Java and Bali. Prices differed between eastern Java (mean of US$93) and western Java and Bali (US$185), possibly suggesting pitohuis arrive from West Papua in eastern Java and from there make their way to the outer markets. Pitohuis are marketed as “Papuan Straw-headed Bulbuls”; the Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus is a very popular and expensive songbird from Southeast Asia, including western Indonesia, that has become rare both in the wild and in the markets due to overexploitation. Discussions about pitohuis on online forums rarely mention “poisonous” but when it is mentioned traders dismiss this as something not to worry about and they claim it to be dietary-dependent. Poisonous pitohuis are novelty, as well as master, birds in Indonesia, where they are marketed for their song ignoring any negative side-effects of them being poisonous. The 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 their conservation.
Context Limited information is available on the occurrence, conservation and management of Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) on Bali and Lombok, Indonesia. Some have even questioned their presence here. Aims We present an overview of the current knowledge of pangolins on Bali and Lombok. Methods Information was drawn from camera traps (2023), animal market surveys (1994–2024), and review of occurrence data (museum specimens, iNaturalist, literature), rescues and releases, and seizure data. Key results We document the presence of wild pangolins from 11 sites in Bali (1994–2023) and 5 sites in Lombok (1939–2022). We document 8 rescues from Bali (2015–2023) but none from Lombok; there have been 11 releases of single pangolins in the forest near the Luhur Besi Kalung temple in Bali (2016–2023). We did not record, or find any records of, pangolins offered for sale in four animal markets in Bali (1994–2024) and Lombok (2018–2024), but there was one seizure of 15 live pangolins in Bali in 2009, and, unusually, limited evidence of trade from Lombok and Bali. Conclusions There is a paucity of data of pangolins on Lombok, and on Bali the species appears to occur scattered throughout the island, with much of the contemporary information being derived from accidental encounters or rescues and active management of pangolins is largely absent. Implications Compared to other parts of Indonesia, the conservation status of Sunda pangolins on Bali and Lombok is less bleak, and despite their small size, these two islands on the easternmost edge of the species’ range may hold important populations.
Urban ecology and tropical biology have both developed rapidly in recent decades and matured into important interdisciplinary fields, with significant implications for biodiversity and human communities globally. However, urban ecosystems within the tropics remain understudied and poorly characterized despite these systems representing major hotspots for both biodiversity and human population growth. Here we review the state of the field of “tropical urban ecology.” We first evaluated and propose ecological hypotheses about how tropical versus extratropical species and ecosystems might differ from one another in how they respond to urbanization pressures. While data remain limited, we expect that tropical biodiversity should be at least as vulnerable to urbanization (and potentially more vulnerable) than extratropical biodiversity. We also examined the importance of ecosystem services in tropical cities and demonstrate the challenges in quantifying, managing, and sustaining these across diverse socioeconomic and environmental contexts. Finally, we propose an agenda for moving the field of tropical urban ecology forward through an interdisciplinary lens that synthesizes recent advances in both urban ecology and tropical biology. Specifically, advances and development in community science, Earth observation, environmental justice, One Health, and land sparing/sharing strategies could lead to major steps forward in the conservation of biodiversity in tropical cities. As the world urbanizes increasingly in biodiverse‐rich tropical ecosystems, we must have strong conceptual frameworks and increased data/attention on both the ecological and human communities most impacted by these significant global changes.
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