Bird watchers yesterday warned the indigenous Taiwan Hwamei (Leucodioptron taewanum) may face extinction if the threat of cross-breeding with the Chinese variety is not controlled soon.
“Because of the reckless abandonment of pet Chinese Hwamei’s into the wild, the wild Taiwan Hwamei population is currently being impacted greatly,” Lin Hui-shan (林惠珊) of the Chinese Wild Bird Federation told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The Hwamei is mostly brown with a scattering of black feathers on its head, back and breast, and measures about 24cm long.
PHOTO: CNA
The Taiwan Hwamei was once thought to be a sub-species of the Chinese Hwamei, but in 2006 the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Endemic Species Research Institute, via a gene analysis, found that the Taiwanese birds are endemic to the island as they are at least 3.5 percent genetically different from their Chinese counterparts, meaning that the two have evolved independently for about 1.5 million years.
The Chinese Hwamei derives its name from its most distinctive character — a white ring around its eyes. Hwamei means “drawn eyebrows (畫眉)” in Mandarin.
Lin added that Chinese Hwamei have traditionally been imported as pets because of their pleasant vocalizations. Though the COA banned the sale of Hwameis in 2002, crossbreeds of the Taiwanese and Chinese birds are being increasingly spotted in the wild, she said.
“The Taiwan Hwamei is unique to Taiwan. If the crossbreeding continues, not only will we one day cease to see Taiwan Hwamei’s, the world may lose this species from its ecosystem,” she said.
Lin called on people who own imported birds as pets to refrain from releasing them into the wild and take measures to prevent them from escaping.
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