The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced on September 13 that a bird of prey thought to be “extinct” for the past 50 years has been rediscovered.
A photographer recently astonished scientists by capturing an image of a New Britain Hawk – a bird of prey classified as endangered in Papua New Guinea. This marks the first recorded sighting of this bird in over 50 years.
A New Britain Hawk in Pomio, East New Britain Province (Papua New Guinea) – (Photo: Tom Vierus/WWF-PACIFIC/AFP).
The New Britain Hawk is only found on New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea and is considered endangered, although very little information is currently available about its status.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that there are approximately 2,500 to 10,000 adult birds in the wild, but the elusive nature of this bird makes it difficult for scientists to confirm detailed information.
In fact, the New Britain Hawk is so unusual that photographer Tom Vierus in Fiji initially did not even realize he had captured images of this species. In a statement from WWF, he expressed his surprise upon discovering that this appears to be the first photograph of the “lost” species in many years.
According to John Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Species program at the American Bird Conservancy, the most recent scientific documentation of this bird appears to be a specimen collected in 1969, which is currently housed in a museum in the United States. Although there have been occasional reports suggesting the bird’s existence, the New Britain Hawk has not been featured in any photographs, audio recordings, or specimens for the past 55 years.
WWF emphasizes that the discovery of the New Britain Hawk highlights the importance of protecting the region from threats such as logging and mining activities.
Currently, many companies are conducting extensive mining for gold, copper, nickel, natural gas, and timber in this Pacific nation. According to WWF, this area is also home to the world’s third-largest primary rainforest, while environmentalists warn that very few studies have been conducted on the diverse and rich ecosystems that are currently at risk.
