Indonesia is famous for its island nation and has its characteristics every time it stretches from west to east. Indonesia is also famous for its Fauna. Each of them, the fauna has their own characteristics according to its climate and topography.
Indonesia is also flanked by 2 continents, namely Australia and Asia, as well as two Oceans, namely the Indies and the Pacific certainly affect the physical characteristics of the animal. According to data reported through the Fauna-Flora.org site, Indonesia is the country with the largest forest area in the world after the Amazon rainforest in South America.
Papua Island is an island that has a very unique and rare fauna because of its geographical location adjacent to the Australian continent. Indonesian endemic animals, especially those in Papua, generally have similarities to species that inhabit the continents of Australia to New Zealand.
Due to several factors, this typical Papua animal known as exotic began to step and almost extinct its presence in the wild.
Starting from poaching, the destruction of the environment in which they live, to climate change are some of the causes of the endangered populations of these animals.
Summarizing from various sources, here is a collection of species of animals native to Papua that are almost extinct and must be preserved:
- Birds of paradise
Known as the bird of Heaven because of its exoticness, Red Cendrawasih is a dominant red feather pattern, with green, yellow, and black accents on the part of its head. This one animal tastes familiar. Birds of paradise are birds that enter the Paradisaeidae group and the Passeriformes Order. This bird can be found on Papua Island. By Papuan society, this bird is considered a titis of Heaven.
2. Labi-Pig Snout Pig
This one animal is a type of soft-shelled turtle or soft-shell freshwater turtle. One unique labi-labi species that is an endemic animal of Papua is pig muzzle labi. As the name implies, the characteristic of this species is its snout or nose which resembles a pig’s snout.
Pork muzzle labs live in freshwater or brackish areas. They include omnivorous animals that can consume various types of food, such as fruit, worms, to mouse children.
Like turtle eggs, pork muzzle labi eggs are unfortunately also often taken illegally. So, it is not surprising that this type of labi-labi is included in the list of endangered animals in the list made by the IUCN and the type of protected animals in accordance with the Minister of Environment and Godhead Regulation (LHK) 20 of 2018.
3. Mambruk Bird
Mambruk is a bird that belongs to the dove group. This bird is large, its fur is dominated by grayish blue, red-eyed, and what characterizes it is the existence of a crown on its head.
Mambruk itself is divided into 3 types, namely the southern mambruk of Goura scheepmakeri, mambruk victoria Goura victoria, and mambruk ubiat Goura cristata.
In general, the Mambruk widening is in all regions of Papua, such as in the forests of Biak and Mimika. Unfortunately, Mambruk also includes birds that are often hunted because of the beauty of the crown and the meat that is considered good for consumption.
4. Single Wattle Cassowaries
The Casuarius unappendiculatus Single Wattle inhabit northern Papua to Papua New Guinea.
Adult Single Gambling Cassowaries weigh up to 47 kg. Like the Ostrich, this type of bird does not have the ability to fly and spend a lot of time on the ground.
The extinction status strokes are still at low risk according to IUCNRedList.org, but the population of the Single Twisted Cassowary is reduced due to poaching and loss of its living habitat.
5. Black Wing Parrot
Black Wing parrot Eos cyanogenia is prone to extinction based on data from IUCNRedList.org.
The Black Wing parrot is a type of crooked beak that is not only popular because of the beauty of its feather pattern, but also because of its chirping sound.
It is also known that this type of bird only inhabits areas on islands in the Gulf of Cendrawasih, such as Biak Island, Numfor Island, and Num Island.
This is a row of typical Papua animals that are almost extinct. The beauty of the animals owned by Papua is a wealth for Indonesia. By preserving them and also preserving their habitat, these endemic Papua animals will continue to exist.