Rare bird found in Congo strengthens case for cross-border protection
Scientists recorded a rare grey-necked picathartes bird inside a threatened biosphere reserve in the western Democratic Republic of Congo.
Jean Semeki set up cameras on a path to survey mammals when they captured images of the strange long-legged bird. These large slender birds feature bright blue and red markings on their featherless heads and live secretly in rainforests.
The discovery extends their previous range by nearly four hundred kilometers to include this new area. The reserve faces threats from locals practicing shifting cultivation and producing charcoal for fuel.
This plan remains stalled due to a lack of money and cooperation between responsible government ministries. Without active support, some areas remain vulnerable to irreversible degradation and loss.
The grey-necked picathartes, along with chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas, could serve as key species showing why conservation matters. Cabinda still holds significant patches of healthy rainforest, but it faces big threats from legal logging and widespread gold mining.
Because of the increasing gold price, the pressure on the park is rising significantly. Experts say more discoveries of unrecorded species are likely if discussions for a research station come to pass.
Tamar Ron said potential is enormous while destruction remains imminent. She emphasized that transboundary collaboration is the only way to ensure protection of this vital landscape.
“There is no way we can protect the Mayombe without transboundary collaboration — simply no way.”