Figure 1. The Negros Bleeding-heart.
Aside from the elusive Negros Fruit dove (Ptilinopus arcanus), which has not been sighted since its first discovery in 1953, another species bearing the name Negros on its common name is a facing severe threat of extinction in the wild, and this is the Negros Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba keayi). This beautiful and colorful species is already included in the list of globally threatened species classified as critically endangered, which means its population and distribution are getting limited and it is already highly susceptible to extinction. Before its discovery in Panay in 1997, the Negros Bleeding-heart was only known to exist in Negros Island and nowhere else in the world.
There are at least five species of bleeding-heart pigeons in the Philippines and these are all island endemics and declared as threatened species. The Luzon Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba luzonica) is classified as near threatened while the Mindanao Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba criniger) falls under the endangered category. Just like the Negros Bleeding-heart, the Mindoro Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba platenae) and the Sulu Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba menagei) are listed as critically endangered. It should be noted that those declared as highly threatened are found in islands with limited landmass unlike the mainland of Luzon and Mindanao.
The Negros Bleeding-heart was identified and known as early as in 1877. According to a BirdLife International report, the discovery of this species was somewhat unusual because its discoverer, a certain W.E. Keayi who owned a sugarcane estate in eastern Negros, had known it already for 20 years and had on several occasions kept examples in cages as pets, unaware that it was new to science. The scientific name of the Negros Bleeding-heart carries the name of Keayi in honor for his discovery of this Philippines’ valuable species.
Early in 1900s, this species was found to be abundant and widespread in many parts of both the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental because the forests then were still extensive. As the 1900s came to a close and the forests became increasingly depleted, however, the species became extremely rare and currently only a handful of records had been noted in the remaining forests of Negros Island.
Figure 2. Decline of forest cover on Negros Island over the years.
The decline of the Negros Bleeding-heart’s population is mainly attributed to habitat destruction because it is a noted lowland specialist suspected to inhabit at 300 to 1,200 meters above sea level, according to Birdlife International. And to think that Negros Island has only very limited forests left with its lowland forests almost gone, it is not surprising that the Negros Bleeding-heart is indeed in a highly critical situation. The report of BirdLife claimed that it is unlikely that the species has more than a few hundred individuals left both in Negros and Panay and probably has only a few tens of this species is surviving in the wild.Although there is no available comprehensive study on the ecology of the Negros Bleeding-heart, previous studies reveal that all bleeding hearts are birds of the forest floor and they only fly up to the trees to roost, take cover and breed. It is suspected that the Negros Bleeding-heart’s ideal habitat is the forest floor of the lowland closed canopy forest, which is getting rare in Negros. This also makes the bird also prone to hunting and trapping.
Three protected areas in Negros have been identified as the remaining important habitats of the species: Mount Kanla-on Natural Park, North Negros Natural Park and Twin Lakes Natural Park. The protection of the remaining forests in these areas is indeed of paramount importance to ensure the survival of the Negros Bleeding-heart. It is unfortunate that Negros is becoming an island of threatened species and we just hope that political leaders would make habitat protection and rehabilitation a priority area in terms of governance.
[Photo by Eberhard Curio/PESCP; Map by Don De Alban]
Every environmentalist’s heart must be bleeding with this painful fact…too bad, this species is not getting as much attention as the Philippine eagle and the Tarsier…
Hi:
I just wanted to share with you a couple of videos we did for the Clean and Green Foundation’s Trees for Life project.
video 1(Swings) : http://tinyurl.com/2fgkr6
video 2 (Planting): http://tinyurl.com/2yxrm2
Trees for Life is one of their projects, premised on the fact that more and more “alien” species of trees and plants are being added to the Philippine ecosystem by landscape designers who have more of an eye for aesthetics rather than on the long term impact to the environment. As expected, local species are dying out, not just in terms of popularity, but also because of the invasive attributes of foreign species.
Soon, the only memory we will have of these trees is on the street signs named after them.
There is truly no substitute for a Filipino tree.
TREES FOR LIFE
Join the Tubong Pinoy Movement.
Call Clean and Green Foundation at 63-2-5276376 or 78.
or email cgfi@itextron.com
or pass on the URLs above to your friends.
Thanks!
Rey
thanks for sharing the videos rey, they’re great!
Hi Rina!
Thanks! We’re glad to be doing our share for the environment. Now, if only we could get a bigger budget so we could air them on TV…..
: )
Hi, I never knew that there are so many interesting things to learn about the Philippine environment. A bit frustrating since I am currently living outside the Philippines.
I’m glad Lydia Robledo recommended that I read your site. I will suggest to my children that they report on Philippine wildlife for their school projects.
Thanks for your dedication. Very inspiring.
Hi Miks! I’m glad you surfed in. Don’t forget to bookmark!
Ely: Yes, compared to other flagship species like the Philippine Eagle or the Tamaraw, the Negros Bleeding-heart doesn’t really get that much attention. But the good news is, the CENTROP of Silliman University in Dumaguete is successfully implementing a captive-breeding programme of the species–a first in the world! Some small projects aimed at conserving the bleeding-heart pigeons in the country are also being implemented by Fauna and Flora International and its partner organizations… so it might not be entirely too late to save the species.
Rey: Thanks for sharing those videos. They’re really good. Would you mind if we re-post them on our blog? Maybe you can try to apply for funding from the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) for those videos? FPE is a Philippine NGO that has been funding a lot of environment- and biodiversity-related projects all over the country. You may want to try it; if you do, just let me know. Maybe we can work something out.
Mica: Hi! Thanks for visiting us and for the very kind remarks. I do hope you’ll come see us again.
Hi Don:
I don’t know if you read your email yet — in any case, sure. Please go ahead and re-post the videos : )
Thanks.
Re: your suggestion for funding, will take it up with them when we meet next!
Thanks again!
I really enjoy reading all these articles about the (unfortunately vanishing) beauty of The Philippines! I visited the Phils two times and I’m already making plans for my next visit in 2008!
Greetings from a less tropical place called Netherlands!
Thanks for the great words and keep fighting (with words) for a better world!
Sylvain
Hi Sylvain, thanks for visiting and for the encouraging words. Through this blog I hope alot more people will become aware of the present condition of Philippine biodiversity and do something about it.
Which part of the Philippines do you plan to visit this time?
Hi Don, I hope i have a change to see the tamaraw (and i don’t mean the car!) on my next trip to mindoro! I already spend 2 weeks on mindoro for some hiking around the lowland rainforests. Good for some great endemic birds and a lot of limatiks, but no tamaraw… I already find out that the best change to see this elusive animal is to hike around the Mount Iglit-Baco National Park with some mangyans. Besides mount iglit i also have plans to visit the Northern Sierra Madre and maybe the Batanes/Calayan islands. Maybe you or one of you’re friends already experienced hiking around the Mount Iglit-Baco National Park, Northern Sierra Madre and the Batanes/Calayan Islands and can give me some advices or tips.
Hi Sylvain, I haven’t been to Mt. Iglit-Baco yet unfortunately. But you may want to get in touch with the Tamaraw Conservation Project of the DENR based in San Jose, Mindoro Occidental. I believe they may be able to help you in your search for the tamaraw. The Tamaraw Gene Pool is also located there, or if you want you can join them in their annual tamaraw count. As for Calayan Island, you can contact Carl Oliveros (carl_oliveros[at]yahoo[dot]com) since he’s been doing alot of conservation work there. I hope you enjoy your next visit to the Philippines 🙂
Hi Don de Alban,
I really appreciate this site. I just found it looking for information on Phillipine cloud rats in captivity on Luzon. The Praha Zoo in Czech Republic has just acquired some directly from a captive-breeding facility on Luzon.
I am also interested in the wildlife of your country. It is just like Indonesia and being on the divide between Australasia and South-East Asia, so the flora and fauna are a real biodiversity treasure trove.
I just read your blog on the Tamaraw project on Mindoro. I just love to particpate in the annual tamaraw count. Can you tell me when that would be? Is it every year at the same time?
Another item that interests me is the Phillipine crocs. They have just been separated into a new species from the New Guinea croc and are now called Crocodylus mindorensis! I heard that some captive-breeding takes place, but that a problem exists with hybridisation with the salties C. porosus? Is that true? Can you tell us anything regarding re-introductions of this critically endangered taxon to the wild?
Looking forward to your suggestions,
Chiao,
Jelle
kifaru04@hotmail.com
Hello Jelle,
I was just looking at blog comments and thought to reply to some of your queries.
Crocodylus mindorensis has been a separate species for some time now, I think. Also, you are right that there is a programme for them. Unfortunately, some institutions that started the programme had a hard time keeping track of individuals and differentiating between species, hence the hybridisation. I think they are trying to do something about that now. The porosus is being farmed for their hide – i.e. leather. There might be individuals who want to do the same thing with the mindorensis, but there is a great deal of opposition on this, because of the status of the animal.
Reintroduction has been suggested in one of the Philippine croc meetings but the plan has been held for now. Many individuals are highly inbred and no vacant habitats have been identified for now.
It is possible though that in-situ conservation coupled with education and awareness efforts would be more beneficial to the species.
Good day!!
I have been into Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation Inc. for some times and was fascinated watching wild animals in the center. It’s just a good thing to know that Negros Island is inhabited by some of the world’s most beautiful mammals; the very best example is the Visayan Leopard Cat.
This creature is one of the smallest among the leopard family. But behind that fact, Visayan Leopard Cat is highly threaten by human expansion that stretches up to the mountainous part of the Province. Just recently before classes started, My group have a trip to Patag, a mountain part barangay of Silay City, North of Bacolod where Visayan Leopard cat said to be abounding. It is just a sad thing to note that even some of the people living in the village cannot recognize this species at all! We have asked one of our tour guide if this species does exist still or how large is their number sighted in the area. The answer we got…”We haven’t seen them for quite a long time already, perhaps they’ve gone far due to frequent treks of some mountaineers in our place.”
Visayan Leopard cat is realy a treasure for Negrense. Should we allow them to just perish because of our activities? If that case happen perhaps too soon this cat will just be a part of history, that once upon a time there exist a leopard as small as a domesticated cat found in the forest patches of Negros Island.
Thanks for sharing, John Mark.
I went to Dumaguete the other day; I visited A.Y. Reyes zoological and botanical garden. They were telling me that Negros bleeding heart is critically endangered. Since, the Negros bleeding heart is so sensitive to stress that it can’t incubate its own egg if disturbed… they transferred the Negros bleeding heart’s egg to the nest of Luzon bleeding heart. As a result, the egg is well incubated and voila! A baby Negros bleeding heart! Cool! This is just one of the efforts to save the Negros bleeding heart. Soon, if we don’t do anything, they might be extinct. ☹ Awareness is the best solution.
Hi great website I have used the photo of the Negros Bleeding-heart under the creative commons licence.
Keith