Birds with bright and unique colors are often considered the most beautiful, and this makes them attractive and aesthetically valuable to people. Some of these species not only end up as icons and logos of famous brands and conservation programs, but they also become targets of the global pet trade because people want to own them. Ironically, this means that the birds with the most unique and bright colors are often the ones most threatened with extinction.
In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers used data on the international songbird trade to explore the link between commercially desirable birds and their coloration. They used new color metrics to evaluate the aesthetics of taxonomic groups of birds around the world and found that the exploitation of songbirds for trade is closely related to their coloration.
“Aesthetic value is an important part of how people value nature,” said the study’s lead author, Rebecca Senior, of Durham University. “However, there is potential for conflicts to arise when what motivates some people to protect certain species is the same thing that makes other people want to own them. Songbirds are highly sought after in the pet trade, particularly for their beautiful songs. However, songbirds can also be remarkably colorful, a very desirable trait in other commonly traded species, such as parrots.”
