Exhibition "In the Forests of Borneo"
Birds
Research in the forest | Bornean orangutan | Birds (you're here) | Mammals | Plants | Men
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video transcription
... the very large number of species of birds which live in the Bornean forests (...) it is, however, a strange but true fact that the Bornean avifauna has few forms which are peculiar to it.... the very large number of species of birds which live in the Bornean forests (...) it is, however, a strange but true fact that the Bornean avifauna has few forms which are peculiar to it.
Odoardo Beccari, 1902
Birds are without doubt the best-known and most striking elements of Borneo’s fauna. More than 600 bird species are known from the island. The specimens collected by Doria and Beccari alone allowed the renowned ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori to publish a catalogue in 1874 listingas many as 226 species. In addition to the endemics already known, modern genetic studies show that many forms once believed to identical to those found throughout the major Sunda Islands and the Malay Peninsula are in fact distinct and exclusive to Borneo. Some of the island’s most emblematic birds are pheasants, pittas, cuckoos, hornbills, broadbills (Eurylaimidae), and the peculiar Bornean bristlehead (Pityriasis gymnocephala). The greatest species diversity is found in lowland rainforests, where more than 200 species can be found within just a few square kilometres. These habitats are undergoing the fastest rates of deforestation, so it is not surprising that many of these species are now severely threatened.
In submontane and montane forests the number of species decreases, but the proportion of endemic ones increases. Most of Borneo’s unique birds are restricted to forests between 900 and 2,000 metres in elevation, including the magnificent Whitehead’s Broadbill (Calyptomena whiteheadi) and the enigmatic Dulit Partridge (Rhizothera dulitensis). Although less studied, unique bird communities can also be found in peat swamps, mangroves, and heath forests (kerangas).
Doria and I brought back from Sarawak some 800 bird-skins, representing 226 species. This collection has formed the basis of a book by Count Tommaso Salvadori on the avifauna of Borneo.
Odoardo Beccari, 1902
Selection of exhibits. Birds of Borneo (Natural History Museum of Florence)
Selection of exhibits. Red-bearded Bee-eater (Natural History Museum of Florence).