The Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi) is a bright white bird with brilliant blue splotches on its face and black tips on its wings and tail. Found only in a small mountainous region of the island of Bali in Indonesia, the bird is classified as “critically endangered,” with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild.
This population has teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1990s, and biologists have studied the bird’s behavior attentively since then, all in an attempt to save the species from dying out. Now, a new study in Royal Society Open Science suggests that tests for understanding an animal’s adaptability and neophobia, or fear of new things, could contribute to the preservation of the Bali myna, as well as other populations of endangered species.
