toxic birds
There are several species of birds that are toxic. They do not inject venom like snakes, but instead produce toxins that reside in their feathers and skin, similar to the defenses of some Colombian poison dart frogs. Two of the birds reside exclusively in New Guinea, these being the pitohui and the ifrita.
Pitohui is actually the genus name, and there are six species within this genus: Pitohui kirhocephalusor the Pitohui Variable; Pitohui dichrousor the Hooded Pitohui; Pitohui uncertainor the White-bellied Pitohui; Pitohui ferrugineus, or the Rusty Pitohui; Pitohui cristatus, or the Crested Pitohui; and Pitohui nigrescensor the Black Pitohui.
Pitohuis are omnivorous and feed on both insects and vegetation. The skin and feathers of these birds contain batrachotoxins. These are used as a defense against parasites that would live on its skin and feathers, or against predators such as snakes, humans, and birds of prey, that would want to eat the bird. In fact, the people of Papua New Guinea call these birds “junk birds” because they are not edible.
Interestingly, birds do not produce the toxins themselves; instead, they come from a beetle that is eaten by birds. The other bird that is toxic, the ifrita, also gets its toxins by eating the same beetles.
The ifrite is 16.5 cm long. It is carnivorous, feeding on insects that inhabit the trunks and branches of trees. The bird is yellowish-brown in color, with a blue and black crown.
Western scientists discovered the toxicity of pitohui while trying to free the birds from nets they had set up to catch different birds. John Dumbacher, when he was a PhD candidate, was one of the researchers who experienced neurotoxins firsthand. The scientists freed the birds from the nets, but in the process, the birds’ beaks and talons cut them. The toxin caused “numbness, burning, and sneezing on contact.”
