The poisonous birds They are a relatively recent discovery. They began to be documented only 30 years ago, some species of the genus Pitohuisin Papua New Guinea. Three decades later, biologists from the University of Copenhagen have discovered two more species. Are Schlegel’s Whistler (Pachycephala schlegelii) and the Rufous-naped whistler (Aleadrias rufinucha).
Interestingly, these two new birds poisonous They are also endemic to New Guinea. They are characterized because they have in their feathers one of the neurotoxins most powerful in the world: the batrachotoxin.
It is the same poison that the frogs of the genus Phyllobates and Dendrobates, in South America, throw in the form of a dart. It was used by some indigenous tribes in Colombia to poison their arrows.
The batrachotoxin it is deadly for people: produces convulsions, paralysis, and finally heart failure, and death.
Toxic birds immune to poison
He Schlegel’s whistler (photo below) and the Rufous-naped whistler (opening photo) possess batrachotoxin in their feathers. Luckily, it is in small quantities. If you touch them your eyes start to water and your nose to run, symptoms similar to peeling an onion. Only if you are in contact with the neurotoxin for a long time, or do you ingest it, could it cause serious problems, even death.
Curiously, the poison is its feathers, but not in the flesh. Indigenous people who have tried the bird assure that its meat is very spicyas if it had chili sauce, and they burn their hands when they remove their feathers, so they are not appreciated, and they leave them alone.
iNaturalist
For biologists, the interesting thing to know how do they produce neurotoxinand why doesn’t it affect them.
they think they get it eating a beetle from the melirid family, just like poison dart frogs do.
This neurotoxin acts on sodium channels in the body. These channels function as gateways, helping to regulate the flow of sodium ions into key cells, he explains. Cosmos Magazine.
When the batrachotoxins bind to these sodium channels, prevent them from closing. This causes violent seizures and ultimately death.
Researchers have found that both birds and frogs have mutations in the SCN4A gene, which encodes the sodium channel NAV1.4. This mutation makes it possible to close the sodium channels even with the presence of the neurotoxin, so it does not affect them.
Although its mutation is similar, it acts differently in birds and frogs. Each species has evolved in a different way, to achieve the same goal.
These two new species of poisonous bird in New Guinea, shows us that appearances are not to be trusted. luckily the neurotoxin of its feathers it has a low concentration, but even so it causes eye problems and burns on the hands.
