Huia
Huia Temporal range: Holocene
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A pair of huia (male in front of female) Painting by J. G. Keulemans from W. L. Buller 's A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1888)
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Callaeidae |
Genus: | †Heteralocha Cabanis, 1851 |
Species: | †H. acutirostris
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Binomial name | |
†Heteralocha acutirostris (Gould, 1837)
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Light green: original range Dark green stripes: 1840 range Red: site of 1907 last confirmed sighting Yellow: sites of later unconfirmed sightings | |
Synonyms | |
Neomorpha acutirostris (female) |
The huia (/ˈhuːjə, -iːə/ HOO-yə, -ee-ə;[2] Māori: [ˈhʉiˌa]; Heteralocha acutirostris) is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was another credible sighting in 1924.[3]
It was already a rare bird before the
The birds lived in forests at both
The huia is one of New Zealand's best-known extinct birds because of its bill shape and beauty, as well as its special place in Māori culture and oral tradition. The bird was regarded by Māori as tapu (sacred), and the wearing of its skin or feathers was reserved for people of high status.
Taxonomy and etymology
The genus name, Heteralocha, derives from Ancient Greek ἕτερος "different" and ἄλοχος "wife".[6] It refers to the striking difference in bill shape between male and female. The specific name, acutirostris, derives from Latin acutus, meaning "sharp pointed", and rostrum, meaning "beak", and refers to the beak of the female.[7]
John Gould described the huia in 1836 as two species: Neomorpha acutirostris based on a female specimen, and N. crassirostris based on a male specimen—the epithet crassirostris derives from the Latin crassus, meaning "thick" or "heavy", and refers to the male's short bill.[7] In 1840, George Robert Gray proposed the name N. gouldii, arguing that neither of Gould's names was applicable to the species.[8] In 1850, Jean Cabanis replaced the name Neomorpha, which had been previously used for a cuckoo genus, with Heteralocha.[6] In 1888 Sir Walter Buller wrote: "I have deemed it more in accordance with the accepted rules of zoological nomenclature to adopt the first of the two names applied to the species by Mr Gould; and the name Neomorpha having been previously used in ornithology, it becomes necessary to adopt that of Heteralocha, proposed by Dr Cabanis for this form."[9]
The huia appears to be a remnant of an early expansion of
Description
The huia had black plumage with a green metallic tinge
Although sexual dimorphism in bill shape is found in other birds, such as the
There are two possible explanations for the evolution of this sexual difference in bill shape. The most widely supported is that it allowed birds of different sexes to utilise different food sources.[21][24] This divergence may have arisen because of a lack of competitors in these foraging niches in the North Island forest ecosystems.[25] The other idea is that the ivory-coloured bill, which contrasted sharply with the bird's black plumage, may have been used to attract a mate. In animals that use sexually dimorphic physical traits to attract a mate, the dimorphic feature is often brightly coloured or contrasts with the rest of the body, as with the huia.[21] It has been suggested that as the female was the main provider of food for the chicks by regurgitation, this sex evolved the longer bill to obtain the protein-rich invertebrate diet required for the chicks.[21]
Another, less obvious aspect of the huia's sexual dimorphism was the minor size difference between the sexes. Males were 45 cm (18 in) long, while females were larger at 48 cm (19 in).[4] Additionally, the tail of the male was about 20 cm (7.9 in) in length and the wingspan was between 21 and 22 cm (8.3 and 8.7 in), while the female's tail was 19.5 to 20 cm (7.7 to 7.9 in) and the female's wingspan was 20 to 20.5 cm (7.9 to 8.1 in).[13]
Distribution and habitat
The huia inhabited both of the two principal forest types in New Zealand. They were primarily found in
Ecology and behaviour
Movements
The huia's movements are little known, but it was most likely sedentary.[25] The huia is thought to have undertaken seasonal movements, living in montane forests in the summer and moving down into lowland forests in the winter to avoid the harsher weather and cold temperatures of higher altitudes.[25] Like the surviving New Zealand wattlebirds, the saddleback and the kōkako, the huia was a weak flier and could only fly for short distances, and seldom above tree height.[25] More often it would use its powerful legs to propel it in long leaps and bounds through the canopy or across the forest floor,[4] or it would cling vertically to tree trunks with its tail spread for balance.[16]
Feeding and ecology
The huia, with the previously endangered saddleback, were the two species of classic bark and wood probers in the arboreal insectivore guild in the New Zealand avifauna. Woodpeckers do not occur east of Wallace's line; their ecological niche is filled by other groups of birds that feed on wood-boring beetle larvae, albeit in rotting wood. The woodpecker-like role was taken on by two species in two different families in the New Zealand mixed-podocarp and Nothofagus forests; one was the huia and the other was the Kākā.[28]
The huia foraged mainly on decaying wood.
Insects and spiders were taken from decaying wood, from under bark, mosses and lichens, and from the ground. Huia foraged either alone, in pairs, or in small flocks of up to five, which were probably family groups.
Pairs did not cooperate in feeding, at least not in a strict sense. All such reports are based on a misunderstanding of an account by ornithologist
The New Zealand forest relies heavily on
Voice
Like so many other aspects of its biology, the vocalisations of the huia are not well known,[25] and present knowledge is based on very few accounts. The calls were mostly a varied array of whistles, "peculiar and strange", but also "soft, melodious and flute-like".[25] An imitation of the bird's call survives as a recording of 1909 huia search team member Henare Hamana whistling the call (see External links).[35] Huia were often silent. When they did vocalise, their calls could carry considerable distances – some were audible from up to 400 m (1,300 ft) away through dense forest.[25] The calls were said to differ between sexes, though there are no details. Calls were given with the bird's head and neck stretched outward and its bill pointing 30 to 45 degrees from the vertical.[25] Most references describe huia calls as heard in the early morning; one records it as the first bird to sing in the dawn chorus, and captive birds were known to "wake the household".[19] Like the whitehead, huia behaved unusually before the onset of wet weather, being "happy and in full song".[19] The bird's name is onomatopoeic:[25] it was named by Māori for its loud distress call, a smooth, unslurred whistle rendered as uia, uia, uia or where are you?. This call was said to be given when the bird was excited or hungry.[19] Chicks had a "plaintive cry, pleasant to the ear", would feebly answer imitations by people, and were very noisy when kept in tents.[19]
Commensals and parasites
A species of parasitic phtilopterid louse, Rallicola extinctus,[36] was only known to live on the huia, and apparently became extinct with its host.[37] In 2008, a new species of feather mite, Coraciacarus muellermotzfeldi, was described from dried corpses found in the feathers of a huia skin held by a European museum.[38] While the genus Coraciacarus has a wide range of hosts globally, the presence of a representative of the genus on a passerine bird was an "enigmatic phenomenon".[38] The discoverers suggested the mite could have been horizontally transferred from one of the two native, migratory species of cuckoo (Cuculiformes).[38]
Social behaviour and reproduction
A quiet, social bird, the huia was
Little is known about the huia's reproduction, as only two eggs and four nests were ever described.
Relationship with humans
In culture
In Māori culture, the "white heron and the Huia were not normally eaten but were rare birds treasured for their precious plumes, worn by people of high rank".[40][41] The bold and inquisitive nature of the huia made it particularly easy to capture.[15][18] Māori attracted the huia by imitating its call and then captured it with a tari (a carved pole with a noose at the end) or snare, or killed it with clubs or long spears. Often they exploited the strong pair bond by capturing one of a pair, which would then call out, attracting its mate, which could be easily captured.[18][30] Opinion on the quality of huia meat as food varied wildly; although not usually hunted for this purpose, the huia was considered "good eating" in pies or curried stew[25] by some,[12] but a "tough morsel" and "unfit to eat" by others.[25]
Although the huia's range was restricted to the southern North Island, its tail feathers were valued highly and were exchanged among tribes for other valuable goods such as
The bird was also kept by Māori as a pet, and like the tūī, it could be trained to say a few words.[12] There is also a record of a tame huia kept by European settlers in a small village in the Forty-Mile Bush in the 19th century.[15]
New Zealand has released several postage stamps portraying the huia.[44][45] The New Zealand sixpence coin, minted between 1933 and 1966, featured a female huia on the reverse.
The degree to which the huia was known and admired in New Zealand is reflected in the large number of suburban and geographical features which are named after the species. There are several roads and streets named after the huia in the North Island, with several in Wellington (including Huia Road in
Tail feathers of the extinct huia are very rare and they have become a collectors' item. In June 2010 a single huia tail feather sold at auction in Auckland for
In the 2016 New Zealand film Hunt for the Wilderpeople two of the characters encounter a huia, and eventually set out to obtain proof of their sighting.[49] Reviewers asserted that in the film the huia is significant as a "uniquely indigenous"[50] symbol that "represents harmony with nature and the wild."[51]
Extinction
The huia was found throughout the North Island before humans arrived in New Zealand. Māori are estimated to have arrived around 750 years ago, and by the arrival of European settlers in the 1840s, habitat destruction, hunting, and introduced rats had reduced the bird's range to the southern North Island.[4] However, Māori hunting pressures on the huia were limited to some extent by traditional protocols. The hunting season was from May to July when the bird's plumage was in prime condition, while a rāhui (hunting ban) was enforced in spring and summer.[18] After European settlement the huia's numbers began to decline more quickly, due mainly to two well-documented factors: widespread deforestation and over-hunting.[52]
Like the extinctions of other New Zealand birds such as the
It appears that predation by invasive mammalian species including
Habitat destruction and the predations of introduced species were problems faced by all New Zealand birds, but in addition the huia faced massive pressure from hunting. Due to its pronounced sexual dimorphism and its beauty, huia were sought after as
While we were looking at and admiring this little picture of bird-life, a pair of Huia, without uttering a sound, appeared in a tree overhead, and as they were caressing each other with their beautiful bills, a charge of No. 6 brought them both to the ground together. The incident was rather touching and I felt almost glad that the shot was not mine, although by no means loth to appropriate 2 fine specimens.
— Sir Walter Buller, New Zealand's well-known 19th-century ornithologist, encapsulating what one source describes as the "ambiguous" 19th-century attitudes towards the declining New Zealand avifauna.[54]
The rampant and unsustainable hunting was not just financially motivated: it also had a more philosophical, fatalistic aspect.[53] The conventional wisdom among New Zealand Europeans in the 19th century was that things colonial, whether they were plants, animals or people, were inferior to things European.[55] It was widely assumed that the plants and animals of New Zealand's forest ecosystems would be quickly replaced by more vigorous and competitive European species.[55] This assumption of inevitable doom led to a conclusion that the conservation of native biota was pointless and futile; Victorian collectors instead focused their efforts on acquiring a good range of specimens before the rare species disappeared altogether.[53]
There were some attempts to conserve the huia, but they were few, poorly organised and poorly enforced legally: the
The Duke and Duchess of York (later George V and Queen Mary) visited New Zealand in 1901. At an official Māori welcome in Rotorua, a guide took a huia tail feather from her hair and placed it in the band of the Duke's hat as a token of respect.[16][25] Many people in England and New Zealand wanted to emulate this royal fashion and wear huia feathers in their hats. The price of tail feathers was soon pushed to £1, making each bird worth £12, and some feathers sold for as much as £5.[16] Female huia beaks were also set in gold as jewellery.[56] Shooting season notices ceased listing the huia as a protected species in 1901,[18] and a last-ditch attempt to reinforce government protection failed when the solicitor general ruled that there was no law to protect feathers.[16]
The decline of the huia over the southern half of the North Island occurred at markedly different rates in different locations. Areas where dramatic declines were observed in the 1880s included the Puketoi Range, the
The last official, confirmed huia sighting was made on 28 December 1907 when W. W. Smith saw three birds in the forests of the Tararua Ranges.
Students at
References
- ^ a b BirdLife International (2017) [amended version of 2016 assessment]. "Heteralocha acutirostris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22708091A119257859. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
- ^ Wood, Caroline (18 January 2017). "Hunting the last huia". Forest and Bird. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barrie and Robertson 2005
- ^ a b c Tennyson and Martinson 2006
- ^ a b Cabanis 1850–1851:218, footnote
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Higgins et al. 2006:1014
- ^ Gray 1840:15
- ^ Buller 1888:8
- PMID 16527495.
- PMID 17369056.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85467-100-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-933833-40-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-00-217563-0.
- ^ a b c d e f Best 2005
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Morris and Smith 1995
- ^ Buller 1888:8
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Szabo, Michael (October–December 1993). "Huia; The sacred Bird". New Zealand Geographic (20).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Higgins et al. 2006:1016
- ^ Hume, J. P.; van Grouw, H. (2014). "Colour aberrations in extinct and endangered birds". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 134: 168–193.
- ^ a b c d Jayne-Wilson 2004:76
- ^ Frith, CB (1997). "Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris: Callaeidae)-like sexual bill dimorphism in some birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae) and its significance" (PDF). Notornis. 44 (3): 177–84. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ Holdaway, Worthy 2002:481
- S2CID 250467955– via Elsevier.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Higgins et al. 2006:1015
- ^ Holdaway, Worthy 2002:556
- ^ a b c Holdaway, Worthy 2002:437
- ^ a b Holdaway, Worthy 2002:483
- ^ Burton, Philip J.K. (1974). "Anatomy of head and neck in the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) with comparative notes on other callaeidae". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology. 27 (1): 3–48.
- ^ a b c d Buller 1888
- ^ Jamieson, Ian G; Spencer, Hamish G (1996). "The bill and foraging behaviour of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris): were they unique?" (PDF). Notornis. 43 (1): 14–18. Archived from the original (PDF fulltext) on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ Holdaway, Worthy 2002:482
- ^ Moorhouse, Ron J (1996). "The extraordinary bill dimorphism of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris): sexual selection or intersexual competition?" (PDF). Notornis. 43 (1): 19–34. Archived from the original (PDF fulltext) on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Clout, M.N.; Hay, J.R. (1989). "The importance of birds as browsers, seed dispersers and pollinators in New Zealand forests". New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 12 (supplement): 27–33.
- ^ Holdaway, Richard (2009). "Extinctions". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ^ Palma, Ricardo L. (1999). "Amendments and additions to the 1982 list of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from birds in New Zealand" (PDF). Notornis. 46 (3): 373–87. Archived from the original (PDF fulltext) on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ Mey, Eberhard (1990). "Eine neue ausgestorbene Vogel-Ischnozere von Neuseeland, Huiacola extinctus (Insecta, Phthiraptera)" (PDF). Zoologischer Anzeiger (in German and English). 224 (1/2): 49–73. Archived from the original (PDF fulltext) on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- ^ S2CID 84856279.
- ^ "Heteralocha acutirostris". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ Orbell 1992:82–83
- ^ Orbell mentions some of the sacred associations of the huia, saying that if a man dreamed of a huia or its feathers, it meant his wife would conceive a daughter (page 83).
- ^ a b Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds; Foreword by The Hon. Miriam Rothschild. London: Viking/Rainbird. pp. 229–33.
- ^ Tregear, Edward Robert (1904). The Māori Race. Wanganui: Archibald Dudingston Willis. Retrieved 2 September 2007.
- ^ New Zealand Post. "Redrawn Pictorials". Stamps: Historical Issues. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ New Zealand Post. "Extinct Birds". Stamps: Historical Issues. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ISBN 9781877431210.
- ^ Hall, Michael (1 May 2020). "Jacinda Ardern's feather earrings leave local designer feeling tickled". Newshub. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Malkin, Bonnie (22 June 2010). "Most expensive feather ever fetches £4,000 at auction Heteralocha acutirostris". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
- ^ "Sound archives – the huia". Jesse Mulligan. Radio New Zealand. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- ^ "Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople". Anton Bitel. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Hunt for the Wilderpeople Symbols, Allegory and Motifs". Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ ISBN 1-877385-12-3.
- ^ a b c d Jayne-Wilson 2004:140
- ^ Hutching 2004
- ^ a b c Jayne-Wilson 2004:265
- ^ "Huia beak brooch". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand-Te Papa Tongarewa. 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ Perry, Chris (September 2000). "Boys Cloning Birds". New Zealand Science Monthly. Webcentre. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Cloning of extinct Huia bird approved". CNN Nature. Cable News Network. 20 July 1999. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- S2CID 36482338.
- ^ Priestley, Rebecca (25 February – 3 March 2006). "The Last Huia". New Zealand Listener. APN Holdings NZ. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Bibliography
- Barrie, Heather; Robertson, Hugh (2005). The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (Revised ed.). Viking. ISBN 978-0-14-302040-0.
- Best, Elsdon (2005). Forest Lore of the Māori. Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-01-8.
- Buller, Walter Lawry (1888). A History of the Birds of New Zealand (2nd ed.). London: Walter Buller.
- Cabanis, Jean (1850–1851). Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Mit kritischen Anmerkungen und Beschreibung der neuen Arten. I. Theil, die Singvögel enthalthend. Berlin: Museum Heineanum.
- Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds; Foreword by The Hon. Miriam Rothschild. London: Viking/Rainbird. pp. 229–33.
- Gray, George Robert (1840). A list of the genera of birds, with their synonyma, and an indication of the typical species of each genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 15.
- Higgins, Peter Jeffrey; Peter, John M; Cowling, SJ, eds. (2006). ISBN 978-0-19-553996-7.
- Hutching, Gerard (2004). The Penguin Natural World of New Zealand. Auckland: Penguin.
- Wilson, Kerry-Jayne (2004). Flight of the Huia: Ecology and Conservation of New Zealand's Frogs, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press. ISBN 978-0-908812-52-3.
- Morris, Rod; Smith, Hal (1995). Wild South: Saving New Zealand's Endangered Birds (2nd ed.). New Zealand: Random House. ISBN 978-1-86941-043-8.
- Orbell, Margaret Rose (1992). Traditional Maori Stories. Birkenhead, Auckland: Reed. ISBN 978-0-7900-0534-8.
- Riley, Murdoch (2001). Māori Bird Lore: An introduction. NZ: Viking Sevenseas. ISBN 978-0-85467-100-7.
- Tennyson, A.; Martinson, P. (2006). Extinct Birds of New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-0-909010-21-8.
- Worthy, Trevor H.; Holdaway, Richard N. (2002). The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life in New Zealand. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34034-4.
Further reading
- Gill, B.; Martinson, P. (1991). New Zealand's Extinct Birds. Auckland: Random Century. ISBN 978-1-86941-147-3.
- Lambert, D.M.; Shepherd, L.D.; Huynen, L.; Beans-Picón, G.; Walter, G.H.; Millar, C.D. (2009). Cordaux, Richard (ed.). "The Molecular Ecology of the Extinct New Zealand Huia". PLOS ONE. 4 (11): e8019. PMID 19946368.
- Monson, Clark S. (2005). "Cultural Constraints and Corrosive Colonization: Western Commerce in Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Extinction of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris)". Pacific Studies. 28 (1/2): 68–93. ISSN 0275-3596. Archived from the originalon 15 April 2012.
External links
- Huia specimens at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- Huia calls (imitation)