Maleo: Bird that buries its young and does not take care of them

The maleo, is a medium-sized bird approximately 55 to 60 cm in length with blackish plumage, bare yellow facial skin, reddish-brown irises, reddish-orange beak, and pinkish underparts. The maleo is endemic to Sulawesi and the neighboring island of Buton, Indonesia. It is found in tropical lowlands and montane forests, but nests in open sandy areas, volcanic soils or beaches that are heated by the sun or geothermal energy for hatching. The maleo's egg is large, about five times the size of a domestic hen's. The female lays and covers each egg in a deep hole in the sand and allows incubation to take place by solar or volcanic heating. After the eggs hatch, the chicks climb the sand and hide in the forest. Young birds are able to fly and are completely independent. They must find food and fend off predators such as lizards, snakes, wild pigs and cats. The maleo is monogamous and members of a pair stay close to each other at all times. Their diet consists mainly of fruits, seeds, molluscs, ants, termites, beetles and other small invertebrates. A large number of former nesting sites have been abandoned as a result of egg poaching and land conversion for agriculture. Of the 142 known nesting sites, only 4 are currently considered non-threatened. The shrinking and fragmentation of forest habitats on the island pose serious threats to surviving and future populations of the species. Since 1972, this species has been protected by the Indonesian government. As of 2005, it is estimated that only four thousand to seven thousand breeding pairs currently exist in the wild and these numbers are rapidly decreasing. The maleo is assessed today as critically endangered.

#Maleo #NaturalWorld!