Critically endangered bird at a greater risk of being taken for captivity than harmed through loss of habitat– phys.org

Research by Royal Holloway, University of London and ZSL has found that a critically endangered bird’s biggest threat is being taken from its habitat to be used as a caged bird for its beauty.

The blue-crowned laughingthrush, which is now only found in small areas of Southeast China with around 400 in the wild, has been on the critically endangered list for 17 years and is still in danger of extinction thanks to being trapped and sold.

While loss of habitat has been a factor in the bird’s decline, there has until now been no assessment of the usefulness of local ecological knowledge (LEK)—the knowledge and experiences of rural communities who live alongside the species—to provide new conservation-relevant information for understanding its current threats.