Birds have poison, can kill people just by touching the feathers

Mysterious island Papua New Guinea is home to many poisonous birds, which can kill people if you caress them.

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It sounds unbelievable but really exists poisonous birds. The first case of poisonous birds recorded in the world is due to researcher Jack Dumbacher accidentally discovered in the early 1990s.

Dumbacher went to the island nation of Papua New Guinea to study the most famous birds of paradise here. But when he trapped the bird, he caught the Hooded Pitohuis birds and was scratched and bitten by them.

Birds have poison, can kill people just by touching the feathers Picture 1
Birds have poison Pitohui.(Photo of Science News for Students.)

His wound quickly became swollen. Dumbacher could not imagine that the mysterious bird here had a terrifying venom, so it stuck its wound in its mouth.

His mouth began to itch, hot, numb until a few hours. He later learned that he had a nerve called batrachotoxin. This type of poison is similar to Dart frog venom, which can inhibit the production of ions that paralyze the nervous system.

A lot of poisoning can paralyze the nervous system, cause breathing difficulties, internal bleeding, destroyed organs and . death! Thankfully, the amount of poison he had was little.

Birds have poison, can kill people just by touching the feathers Picture 2
Pitohui is only available in Papui New Guinea.

Where does the venom of this bird come from?

Hooded Pitohuis bird's food has poisonous beetles. Due to the evolutionary process, this bird is resistant to poison but the toxin is not lost but spreads throughout the bird's body like skin and fur or in the bird's beak. Therefore, even if you do not eat birds, just touching their feathers is enough to poison you.

Birds have poison, can kill people just by touching the feathers Picture 3

The bird also possesses a colorful look like other dangerous poisonous animals like frog darts as if warning enemies to stay away.

In addition, this bird also has a characteristic odor like garbage. Therefore, the locals call them 'trash birds' and rely on it to identify the poisonous bird Pitohui.

After research, scientists have discovered 6 species of birds belonging to the genus Pitohui and the most dangerous is Hooded Pitohui, they belong to the Oriolidae family. In addition, they found many other poisonous birds living in the New Guinea jungle.