Bird feathers a Cultural Heritage

Port Moresby Nature Park is home to the captive breeding of the Ragianna Bird of Paradise. While there are many different species in the same family, the Paradisaea Raggiana is only found in these parts of New Guinea.

Since the release of its news by the Port Moresby Nature Park, the Ragianna Bird of Paradise was born on 27 June this year, its gender is still yet to be identified, and this could take up to 5 years for the gender reveal.

The Ragianna Bird of Paradise is an omnivore that eats a wide range of foods that includes fruits, berries, insects, frogs and small reptiles, and because they are not able to digest seeds, they disperse these through their environment.

When the males reach full maturity, they grow beautiful plume feathers of high traditional value in PNG, for costumes.

Traditional ‘Bilas’ has been part of PNG culture for many generations and bird feathers have been an essential part of this process; the Bird of Paradise feathers is one of many used.

The ‘Lukautim Bilas Bilong Yu’ Campaign is a collaborative campaign carried out by the Port Moresby Nature Park and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Goroka.

The campaign emphasises on the importance of preserving traditional costumes with the aim of decreasing the numbers of overhunting bird species in Papua New Guinea.

The country’s independence is just around the corner, and there will be a demand for traditional costumes. People were advised to maintain these important costumes and headpiece, to pass on from one generation to the next.

The campaign is one of many at POM NATURE PARK that seeks to educate people in preserving endemic wildlife. Current trends to harvest feathers of these bird species is not sustainable and it is possible we could lose these species if their survival and protection is not ensured.

Author: 
Carol Kidu