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Endangered Maleo birds get their own exotic beach to protect them
Endangered Maleo birds are getting their own stretch of Indonesian beach to help protect them from poachers, all for the low price of $12,500.
Maleos look like chickens, but with black backs, pink stomachs and yellow facial skin and they are found only on Sulawesi.
It's a 356 acre area on the island of Sulawesi and this is where the bird nests every year, but poachers have been stealing their eggs for a long time now.
"Protecting this beach is just the first step in what will soon be a comprehensive conservation project for the benefit of the maleo," Noviar Andayani, who works in Indonesia for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in the statement. "Fewer than 100 nesting sites still exist throughout the bird’s entire home range, so every one counts."
Their eggs are about five times larger than a chickens' and they are buried in the sand and abandoned and when the chicks hatch, they are left to fend for themselves.
Donations from the Lis Hudson Memorial Fund and Quvat Management made the purchase possible with donations and they also 'purchased' four maleo chicks, and 98 green, leatherback, and olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings as part of the celebration.
This beach will protect the Maleos, turtles and also coconuts that grow on the island.
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Robin100
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tootze
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iHunowu2006
Indonesia
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 17:37 on May 13th, 2009
Thanks for this good news. They sure are cute looking birds!
at 17:53 on May 13th, 2009
This is good news, lets hope they do not discover oil there, ever.
at 18:41 on May 13th, 2009
Yeah - very cool - thank you for sharing.
at 03:27 on May 14th, 2009
Thanks for alerting us to this excellent story, Amy.