THE BLACK INDRI – REVIVING ANOTHER MELANISTIC MYSTERY BEAST

Engraving of a predominantly black indri from Goodrich's book of 1885

A few days ago, I documented here on ShukerNature the rediscovery of a forgotten melanistic mystery beast – Brevet's black Malayan tapir. Now, a second such case has come to my attention.

Isn't it amazing what you can uncover on clip-art sites? While browsing through various of these a couple of nights ago in search of some public-domain animal images for various future writing projects, I came upon the remarkable engraving that opens this present ShukerNature blog post. It was labelled as an indri, but as can readily be observed here, what is so intriguing and unexpected about it is that it is almost entirely black. Only its face and brow, its hands and feet, and its throat appear somewhat paler in hue; the remainder of its body is totally black.

The indri or babakoto Indri indri is famous not only for being arguably the largest species of lemur known to be alive today on Madagascar (the diademed sifaka Propithecus diadema runs it an extremely close second), but also for its very striking black and white pelage.

A typical black-and-white indri (Erik Patel/Wikipedia)

What is not so well known, however, is that in reality this species' colouration varies dramatically through its zoogeographical range on its island home. To quote Nick Garbutt in Mammals of Madagascar (1999):

"Towards the southern limits, the basic colour is black with creamy-white patches on the crown, nape and throat, base of the back, fore-arms, thighs and lower legs – these areas may also be tinged with silver-grey or pale creamy-yellow. The face and muzzle are black and the ears are round, tufted and prominent. The eyes are yellow-green.

"At the northern extreme of the Indri's range pelage pattern is very different. Again the base colour is black, but pale grey and white regions are far less evident. The inner face is black, surrounded by a white facial disc which extends down the throat. There are white areas on the sides of the abdomen which extend under the armpits and there is a white pygal triangle at the base of the back which continues to the rump and includes the vestigial tail; the heels may also be pale grey or yellowish-white. White areas are completely absent on the forearms and upper hindlimbs.

"In some localities towards the centre of the Indri's range, for instance around Mananara, a mixed pattern occurs which is intermediate between the two extremes outlined above."

A taxiderm black-and-white indri at Tring Natural History Museum (Dr Karl Shuker)

Investigating the near-black indri engraving further, I discovered that it had originated from S.G. Goodrich's book The Animal Kingdom Illustrated (A.J. Johnson & Co: NY, 1885), appearing on p. 119.

Could there be any other antiquarian illustrations of black or near-black indri specimens online, I wondered. Despite spending a fair length of time pursuing this possibility, however, only two came to light, neither of which corresponded with the specimen from Goodrich's tome.

Engraving of a supposed black indri that is clearly not an indri at all

The animal depicted in the first of these images, reproduced above, is certainly all-black but is quite evidently not an indri at all. This is evinced not simply by its very long tail (the indri, conversely, is noted for being the only near-tailless modern-day lemur – hence its binomial synonym Indri brevicaudatus – 'short-tailed indri'), but also by its entire morphology. For this compares closely in size and proportions with one of the much smaller, true lemurs. I have been unable to ascertain the original source for this illustration.

In contrast, the second image, produced by French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat and derived from Johann von Schreber's series of animal tomes Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (Wolfgang Walter: Erlangen, 1775-92), and which is reproduced below, definitely shows an indri. Moreover, it corresponds well with Garbutt's above-quoted description of northern indri specimens.

A mostly black (northern?) indri illustrated by Sonnerat and appearing in Schreber's late 18^th-Century series of animal tomes

So was Goodrich's engraving based upon an extreme example of the northern indri, or perhaps even upon a melanistic specimen of the southern indri - or could it simply have been an inaccurate illustration, possibly based only upon verbal descriptions, rather than upon physical specimens directly viewed by the artist? Was it even an indri at all?

With regard to this last-mentioned query, I did notice on a couple of websites that had reproduced this image the suggestion that perhaps it was a late-surviving relative of one of the officially-extinct giant lemurs. As documented extensively within my latest book, Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), that same explanation has also been proposed in relation to certain other Madagascan mystery beasts, such as the tratratratra, tokandia, and habéby.

Mirabilis, featuring a giant lemur on its front cover (Dr Karl Shuker/Anthony Wallis)

In this particular instance, however, the morphology of the animal in Goodrich's engraving is sufficiently detailed for there to be no doubt whatsoever that it is indeed intended to represent an indri – only the predominantly black colour of its pelage marks it out as different from more typical indri specimens.

In any case, there is also some wholly independent, and very exciting, proof to hand that readily confirms its identity as an indri. Namely, the current existence of living identical near-black specimens!

Nestled within the rugged mountains of northeastern Madagascar is the Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve, which currently protects 42,488 acres of rainforest on the eastern slopes of the Anjanaharibe Massif, and is home to a number of very rare and unusual animals and plants – including what is referred to there as the black indri.

Photo of an Anjanaharibe-Sud black indri that is almost identical to the specimen portrayed in Goodrich's engraving (© Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership)

As its name reveals, this very distinctive form of indri is predominantly black, with only its face, hands, feet, and throat (plus in some specimens its rump, and/or a strip above its haunches) introducing any paler colouration. If such an extreme variety as this can exist today, as indeed it does, I see no problem in accepting that comparably dark-furred individuals were thriving little more than a  century ago – especially as even now, little is known about the black indri of Anjanaharibe-Sud. Also worth remembering is that far more rainforest was still present back in those times, before great swathes were felled during modern-day legal and (particularly) illegal logging activity, which means that much more habitat was available then to sustain these largest of living lemurs.

In short, I consider it likely that the mysterious near-black indri depicted in Goodrich's engraving was a northern indri specimen displaying extremely restricted paler pelage colouration. Another melanistic mystery mammal from the past duly revived and identified.

Primatologist Dr Russell Mittermeier holding an Anjanaharibe-Sud black indri (© Mireya Mayor)

MIRABILIS IS HERE! – MY BRAND-NEW BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

    Mirabilis has arrived in my study! (Dr Karl Shuker)

Mirabilis is here! I'm very happy to announce that my newly-published 19^th book is now available to purchase on Amazon (including both the US and UK sites) and via all other good bookstores. Click here to visit the Mirabilis page on my website, which contains full details concerning my latest book's specifications and content as well as direct clickable links to order it on US Amazon and UK Amazon, and also from its publisher, Anomalist Books (at AnomalistBooks.com).

Much as I am delighted that Mirabilis is now in print, on a personal note today is also one of great sorrow and poignancy for me, in that this is the first published book of mine that my dear little Mom, Mary Shuker, will never see. My greatest supporter throughout my life, whose abiding faith in me never wavered even when my own did (and still does, on a frequent basis), Mom passed away earlier this year, on Easter Monday, leaving me so devastated that I sometimes wondered during the days and weeks that followed whether I would ever see another book of mine published either.

And yet here it is, and here am I still, somehow, in my grief drawing strength and purpose from knowing how proud Mom would be today, and how much more she would also want me to achieve in my life. I have dedicated Mirabilis to her, in grateful, humble thanks to the best person I shall ever know, and I pray that I shall forever be worthy of her in all that I do throughout the remainder of my days. God bless you Mom, I love you, always.

BREVET'S BLACK MALAYAN TAPIR - AN ASIAN MYSTERY BEAST RESURRECTED

Rotterdam Zoo's adult all-black Malayan tapir

Largest of today's living tapir species, and the only one that is native to the Old World, the Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus is further distinguished by its striking 'saddle' of white, encompassing much of its torso and haunches.

A typical, white-saddled specimen of the Malayan tapir (Ltshears/Wikipedia)

In total contrast, its four New World relatives are all uniformly dark. Naturally, therefore, zoologists were nonplussed when one of the adult Malayan tapirs sent to Rotterdam Zoo in spring 1924 from Sumatra proved to be entirely black, with no saddle.

According to a subsequent paper concerning this singular animal by Dr K. Kuiper of Rotterdam Zoo (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, July 1926), there were no previous records of all-black Malayan tapirs, and not even Captain K. Brevet (of the Royal Dutch-Indian Army), from whom the tapirs had been received, had ever heard tell of such creatures before. Notwithstanding this, the Rotterdam specimen, a male, confirmed that at least one could (and did) exist. Moreover, when, just a few months later, Brevet sent two juvenile Malayan tapirs to the zoo, one of these matured into a second all-black individual (except for a small grey stripe on the median line of its belly).

Rotterdam Zoo's second all-black Malayan tapir

Yet although they were evidently Malayan tapirs, what was their precise identity, taxonomically speaking? Both specimens had been captured within the Babat district in the low-lying plains of Palembang, a southern district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where the familiar white-saddled form also exists - thereby eliminating any possibility that they constituted a morphologically-distinctive geographical subspecies. And as these two mystifying individuals were both from this same region, with no reports of any all-black tapirs elsewhere, Kuiper also deemed it unlikely that they were merely the product of a simple genetic mutation - i.e. a melanistic (all-black) morph that could appear anywhere and at any time within any population of white-saddled specimens (like black panthers within populations of spotted leopards).

Accordingly, Kuiper looked upon them as representatives of a newly-emerging variety, not replacing the white-saddled version in any specific area (and hence not a subspecies), but nonetheless possessing a specific geographical distribution. In July 1926, within his PZSL paper, he formally christened his newly-categorised variety Tapirus indicus var. brevetianus, in honour of its discoverer.

Another specimen of the normal, white-saddled version of Malayan tapir (Jeffery J. Nichols/Wikipedia)

I brought to a close a short, previous item documenting the above history of Brevet’s black Malayan tapir (within my book Mysteries of Planet Earth, 1999) by stating:

However, it now seems much more plausible that this all-black form was nothing more than a melanistic mutant after all, because no further brevetianus specimens have ever been documented. And both of the Rotterdam individuals died before any matings with white-backed specimens could take place - thereby denying science the opportunity of investigating the genetic basis of their uniformly dark colouration. Even so, their preserved remains at the Leiden Museum of Natural History bear silent witness to their erstwhile existence, and to the tantalising prospect that at some stage in the future, their kind will reappear, reviving the brevetianus zoogeographical paradox - the presence of all-black tapirs in the Old World. 

And indeed, after almost 80 years, that hypothetical stage in the future finally became the very real present, when in 2000-2001, as subsequently documented by J. Mohammed Azlan of WWF Malaysia (Tapir Conservation, vol. 11, no. 1, June 2002), two separate all-black Malayan tapir sightings were recorded within Jerangau Forest Reserve, in Ulu Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. The first sighting took place on 9 July 2000 at 7.44 pm, when a motion-sensitive infra-red camera set up in lowland forest to monitor tigers obtained a clear photograph of a tapir that was wholly black, with no white saddle marking whatsoever. The second sighting, again the result of triggering an infra-red camera but this time set up in hill forest, snapped an all-black tapir at 1.13 am on 20 July 2001. 

One of  two photographs of a Brevet's black Malayan tapir snapped in the wild just over a decade ago (J. Mohammed Azlan)

On 20 and 30 May 2016, moreover, during the First National Tiger Survey Program 2016-2020 embarked upon by Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Park (DWNP),  an adult male melanistic tapir was photographed using a passive digital infrared camera trap in Tekai Tembeling Forest Reserve, located in the central Peninsular Malaysian state of Pahang.

The above-listed images are currently the only photos obtained in the wild of specimens of Brevet’s black Malayan tapir. (In fact, it might even be that both of the 2000-2001 photos are of the same single animal, which may simply have moved from low forest into hill forest during the intervening year between the snapping of the two photos.) Also, according to various online coverages for the Malayan tapir, in September 2003 Canadian researcher William Sommers witnessed the live birth of an all-black Malayan tapir in the wild. If correct, this is particularly intriguing, because tapirs of all species are normally born striped, only losing their markings as they mature (as was the case with the second all-black Malayan tapir at Rotterdam Zoo). 

A typical, striped juvenile specimen of Malayan tapir (Sasha Kopf/Wikipedia)

In any event, these 21st-Century photos snapepd in the wild provide conclusive evidence that Brevet’s all-but-forgotten melanistic mystery beast still exists - albeit most probably as an exceedingly rare mutant limited to a couple or so individuals in every generation. And its unexpected appearance in Malaysia, greatly expanding this form’s known distribution, substantiates my belief that it is indeed a mutant morph capable of appearing anywhere within the total Malayan tapir population. Benefiting from modern-day advances in DNA analyses, and with at least one contemporary specimen in existence, it would be fascinating to investigate the genetic make-up of Brevet’s black Malayan tapir, and finally establish after many decades of scientific obscurity the true identity of this enigmatic creature.

Incidentally, in the belief that such a creature would prove exceedingly popular as a pet in the USA, biological engineers have recently attempted to create a dwarf version of the Malayan tapir – but that, as they say, is another story...

Hand-coloured engraving of a normal Malayan tapir, c.1840

 

GO-AWAY BIRDS – WHY THEY DON'T, AND WHAT THEY DO

White-bellied go-away bird (Yathin S Krishnappa/Wikipedia)

Go-away birds – they sound like something from a children's fantasy novel, akin perhaps to the Never bird in J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan. And yet they are indisputably – and very audibly – real. Ask any native African hunter attempting to sneak up on his intended animal victim when one or more of these birds is perched close by.

They earn their onomatopoeic name from the sound of their extremely loud, oft-repeated cry, which does sound rather like "g-away!" – check out this YouTube video here of some grey go-away birds in fine voice, and listen for yourself.

Grey go-away bird (Claude Gibney Finch-Davies, 1916)

Acting very much as self-appointed wildlife sentinels, go-away birds perch high up in tree tops, well out of danger themselves, and then proceed via their raucous alarm cries to warn any unsuspecting antelope or any other prey animal in the vicinity of approaching threats, such as human hunters, lions, cheetahs, and other predators. As a result, both prey and predator do indeed go away – the grateful prey to live another day, the seriously aggrieved predators to glare with impotent rage at their feathered nemeses.

But what are go-away birds, zoologically speaking? In fact, they are unusually plain-plumaged relatives of the typically gaudy touracos (and less gaudy plantain-eaters). Touracos are famous for their controversial classification – sometimes allied with the cuckoos, sometimes accorded their very own taxonomic order, Musophagiformes. And they are equally celebrated for producing not one but two porphyrin-derived pigments found nowhere else in the animal kingdom – turacin and turacoverdin.

Johnston's touraco Ruwenzorornis johnstoni (J.G. Keulemans, 1902)

Turacin is the bright crimson pigment commonly seen edging their wings (in all other birds, red colouration is due to the presence of carotenoids); and as its name indicates, turacoverdin is a green pigment that is liberally exhibited in touraco plumage (but in all other birds, green colouration is due to a combination of yellow carotenoids and the scattering of blue light caused by the prismatic qualities of their feathers' surface structure).

Red-crested touraco Tauraco erythrolophus, 1838 painting

In stark contrast, go-away bird are garbed only in the most sombre, nondescript greys and whites, but possess showy crests and long tails, and average 20 inches or so in total length. Like typical touracos, they are endemic to tropical Africa, gregarious, non-migratory, and live principally upon fruit and flowers,. However, they inhabit open or less forested country, whereas other touracos tend to be predominantly forest dwellers.

White-bellied go-away bird (Steve Garvie/Wikipedia)

Three species are recognised. The most attractive member of this trio is the white-bellied go-away bird Corythaixoides leucogaster. Very widely distributed in East Africa, it boasts a lengthy tail handsomely barred in black and white, and bright white underparts too.

Grey go-away birds (Axel Bührmann/Wikipedia)

Less dramatic is the aptly-named grey go-away bird C. concolor. Native to much of southern and southeastern Africa (and often visiting suburban gardens and parks), it is indeed predominantly ashen in colour.

Bare-faced go-away bird (Lip Kee Yap/Wikipedia)

So too is the bare-faced or masked go-away bird C. personatus, but as its name suggests, its facial skin is bereft of feathers and is black in colour, yielding a mask-like appearance that contrasts sharply with its grey crest and the white plumes borne upon the remainder of its face and neck. This species has two discrete populations – one covering much of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi as well as stretching into the peripheries of Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, and the Democratic Congo, but the other confined entirely to Ethiopia.

Bare-faced go-away bird (Joseph Smit, 1881)

Happily, none of these three go-away bird species is endangered – much to the chagrin, no doubt, of the hunters all-too-frequently frustrated by their noisy scare-mongering!

Grey go-away bird (Hans Stieglitz/Wikipedia)

Click here for an informative YouTube video featuring a hand-reared white-bellied go-away bird named Mr McBouncyPants at Houston Zoo.

Bare-faced go-away bird (Brooke Bond PG Tips 'Incredible Creatures' collector card, 1986 / inclusion here strictly on Fair Use/non-commercial basis only)

WATCH OUT FOR THE NIGHT JAGUAR – RECALLING A FORGOTTEN BUT VERY FEROCIOUS MEXICAN MYSTERY CAT

 

Boogie, at Tbilisi Zoo (©Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images collection)

Several people have asked me whether the above photograph of an exotic-looking big cat is genuine or photoshopped. Having investigated it, I'm pleased to reveal that it is totally genuine. It was snapped by Vano Shlamov on 10 February 2010, and depicts a black (melanistic) jaguar Panthera onca called Boogie at Tbilisi Zoo in Georgia. The distinctive rosetting is due to the angle at which sunlight is hitting Boogie's pelage. The photograph is part of the AFP/Getty Images collection.

While I was investigating it, moreover, I came upon a couple of tantalising accounts of a very formidable cryptozoological cat that I had never previously known about – hence its absence from my latest book, Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012).

According to an article in Chad Arment's BioFortean Review series, it is known variously as the night jaguar, carraguar, or renegrón. Allegedly native to Colima in Mexico, it is said to resemble a very large all-black jaguar but with coarser fur, and is exceptionally ferocious and fearless. I am only aware of two reports, one extremely brief, the other more extensive, but both of them over a century old. Is this cryptic Mexican cat still being reported today? If so, I'd greatly appreciate receiving any details here.

TAKING A SHINE TO NESSIE RECEIVES THE STAMP OF APPROVAL – THE LNM ON AN FDC

My Nessie First Day Cover (© Royal Mail)

Despite having been named in various polls as Scotland's top tourist attraction, Nessie the Loch Ness Monster has never been commemorated on a British postage stamp – or has she? Well, sort of...

On 20 August 1991, the Royal Mail issued a set of five commemorative postage stamps depicting the skeletons of various dinosaurs. It also produced in association with this set a First Day Cover (FDC), released in Inverness on that same date, and shown above in this present ShukerNature blog post. As can be seen, this FDC features not only all five dinosaur stamps but also a beautiful full-colour illustration of Nessie, depicted in her most popular, plesiosaurian reconstruction and headed 'The Monster of Loch Ness'.

I'm not at all sure what palaeontologists must have thought about cryptozoology's most controversial megastar sharing equal billing with the likes of such dinosaurian celebrities as Iguanodon, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Protoceratops, and Triceratops. However, worse – at least for them – was still to come.

The FDC also bore two ornate circular franks, both of which took the form of Nessie as a plesiosaur encircled by the words "The Last Dinosaur? The Loch Ness Monster". Now, as any schoolboy dinosaur enthusiast would be quick to point out, plesiosaurs were definitely not dinosaurs, belonging instead to an entirely separate superorder of prehistoric reptiles, Sauropterygia. So even if Nessie does exist, and is a living plesiosaur, she is certainly not the last – or indeed any other – dinosaur.

One day...? (nothing to do with philately, I know - but I just couldn't resist!)

Never mind. This taxonomic tribulation was more than compensated for in my eyes when, after being fortunate enough to stumble upon and duly purchase one of these highly attractive FDCs at a collector's fair several years ago, I discovered to my delight that it had been personally signed by none other than veteran Nessie investigator Adrian Shine, alongside a blue-lettered frank that read: "Carried aboard the research ship Ecos on Loch Ness in the search for Nessie and signed by the project leader Adrian Shine".

All in all, a perfect addition to the collection of any cryptozoological philatelist!

And while on the subject of LNM-inspired philately, Nessie was also featured, again in plesiosaurian guise, on a spectacular miniature sheet issued by the Maldives in 1992. Here it is:

Maldives miniature sheet depicting Nessie, issued in 1992 (© Maldives Royal Mail Postal Service)

For details of many additional cryptozoologically-themed postage stamps, check out my book Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals on Stamps: A Worldwide Catalogue (2008), which includes a special appendix listing every cryptozoology stamp that had been issued prior to this book's publication.

STYMPHALIAN BIRDS, FOREST RAVENS, AND HERMIT IBISES - DREAMS OF A FEATHERED GERONTICUS

A waldrapp or hermit ibis (Dr Karl Shuker)

The famous Greek legend featuring Heracles and the dreaded Stymphalian birds. A non-existent forest raven native to the lofty peaks of the Swiss Alps. The epic biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood. What conceivable connection could exist between such ostensibly disparate subjects as these? The answer is a genuine rara avis called Geronticus - a baffling bird encompassed by all manner of myths and mysteries, drawn together from the dreams of the past. 

A young waldrapp (on left) and an adult (Dr Karl Shuker)

One of the twelve great labours imposed upon the mighty Greek hero Heracles by the cowardly King Eurystheus of Argolis was to vanquish the Stymphalides - a flock of brass-winged, crane-sized, ibis-like birds with crests and a craving for human flesh, which frequented the Stymphalian marshes in Arcadia. With the aid of a loudly resonating pair of brass rattles forged by the fire god Hephaestus and loaned to him by the war goddess Athena, however, Heracles was able to scare the birds out of their marshy domain and into flight. Once they were airborne, wheeling overhead in a frenzy of fright engendered by the ear-splitting cacophony of the rattles, he then proceeded to fire volley after volley of arrows into their soft, unprotected bellies, killing some and sending the remainder flying far away towards the Black Sea, never to return to Arcadia.

A beautiful depiction of the Stymphalian birds battling Heracles (Titta/Deviantart / inclusion here strictly on Fair Use/non-commercial basis only)

These fearful bird-monsters were originally thought to constitute an imaginative personification of marsh fever, but in 1987 Swiss ornithologist Michael Desfayes proposed that they may actually have been based upon a real (albeit smaller, harmless) bird.

 

Beautiful colour engraving of a hermit ibis or waldrapp from 1897 (public domain)

Also called the hermit ibis, the waldrapp Geronticus eremita is a very rare relative of the more familiar sacred ibis of Egypt and South America's scarlet ibis, and sports a crest, a long red beak, and bronze-coloured wings. It is nowadays restricted to a scattering of sites in Morocco, Algeria, Syria, and one notable locality in Turkey; it has also been reintroduced into Spain and Austria. However, it was once much more widespread, known from as far west as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (see below). Moreover, after comparing its morphology with classic descriptions of the Stymphalides, Desfayes opined that they were one and the same species, and that Greece should thus be added to the waldrapp's former distribution range.

Albrecht Dürer's extraordinary semi-humanoid portrayal of the Stymphalides

Not everyone agrees with his opinion - one researcher suggested that the real identity of the Stymphalides was the sacred ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus, which did once exist in Greece. However, this identity was based upon the evidence of a single depiction of the Stymphalides as black and white birds, whereas there are many others depicting them in other forms, so this particular identification is by definition highly selective. Perhaps the strangest and most distinctive portrayal of the Stymphalides appears in a painting from c.1500 by Albrecht Dürer in which they are represented with the heads and upper torsos (including arms and breasts) of women, and long mermaid-like fishtails!

Conrad Gesner's depiction of the mysterious forest raven

Another longstanding mystery bird from Europe was the Swiss forest raven, described and portrayed by Zurich scholar Conrad Gesner in his Historiae Animalium, published in 1555. Later writers dismissed this bird as imaginary, because it seemed to resemble a crested ibis rather than a raven, and there was no ibis-like bird known from Switzerland. Not until 1941 was the mystery finally resolved, when geologically Recent remains of waldrapps were excavated from the Glarus Alps and sites near Solothurn.

Early waldrapp depictions by German naturalist Johann Bechstein (left) and English naturalist/illustrator Eleazar Albin (right) (public domain)

This distinctive bird corresponds perfectly with Gesner's description and depiction of his perplexing 'forest raven', and it is now known that way back in 1504 the waldrapp (whose name translates from German as 'wood crow') was formally designated a protected species in the Alps by Archbishop Leonard of Salzburg. Tragically, however, his decree was largely ignored, and the waldrapp's nestlings were hunted mercilessly as prized culinary delicacies. Less than a century later it had become extinct here, swiftly fading from memory and ultimately transforming into an apparently mythical, non-existent bird known only from a medieval bestiary.

A waldrapp revealing its distinctive crest, as accurately portrayed by Gesner (Dr Karl Shuker)

It is likely that the waldrapp would have become extinct in Turkey too, but here it has been saved not only by modern conservationist zeal but also by traditional religious belief. According to ancient Turkish lore, the waldrapp was one of the birds released by Noah after the Great Flood, and symbolises fertility - giving the people of Birecik, site of this species' only notable Turkish colony, an added incentive for perpetuating its tenuous survival here.

The weird yet very wonderful waldrapp (Dr Karl Shuker)