Asian Crested Ibis : the bird with the bodyguarD
preventing extinctions
Asian Crested Ibis : the bird with the bodyguarD
Can a species really recover from only 12 birds ? This long-legged wader has triumphed against all odds . The Asian Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon used to breed across the Russian Far East , Japan and China – but human activity encroached from all directions . Its forest nesting sites were felled . Agrochemicals poisoned the frogs , fish and invertebrates that it fed on . And hunting made matters even worse . By 1981 , a population of only seven birds was found in China , and the last five birds in Japan were taken into captivity .
In the wild , logging , agrochemicals and hunting were prohibited in the bird ’ s range . Nest sites got a bodyguard during the breeding season . Emergency captive breeding programmes began in China , and the offspring were released in prime ibis habitats . There now over 500 individuals in the wild , and the species has been successfully re-introduced to Japan , with plans to release it in South Korea .
Asian Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon © Wang LiQiang / Shutterstock
32 june • March 2018