A Strange New Species Of Bird Has Worrying Similarities To The Doomed Dodo

In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, a strange song drew scientists to a new species of bird, the first of its kind identified in over 75 years. It’s cute and very relaxed, but unfortunately, it’s reminding ornithologists of an infamously ill-fated bird: the dodo. 

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The new species, the slaty-masked tinamou (Tinamus resonans), inhabits the mountain forests of the Serra do Divisor in western Amazonia, where an estimated 2,106 of the birds live.

Brazilian scientists first caught wind of the bird in 2021 when they were exploring the remote region and heard a strange, echoing call that sounded like a tinamou, yet matched no known species. 

The team kept detecting the same ghostly song as the years passed, always at the same mountainsides, but the region’s dense vegetation and rugged terrain thwarted every attempt to catch a glimpse of the bird.

The loud call also had an unusual, deceptive quality: “[T]he bird’s vocalization exhibited pronounced diffusion within the forest understory, often misleading the observer’s perception of the sound’s distance and direction,” the study authors write.

Then, in November 2024, a digitally synthesized playback finally lured two birds into view. Further research showed this unusual bird is a new species. It’s part of the Tinamidae family, which includes some of the closest living relatives of the moa, the giant bird that fell into extinction in New Zealand.

The slaty-masked tinamou is no giant, however. Around the size of a chicken, its characteristic features include a cinnamon-tinged plumage, a round body, a skinny neck, and big beady eyes adorned with a dark stripe. Just like other Tinamus species, it isn’t a skilled flyer and spends most of its time rustling around the forest floor.

Although the bird was elusive at first, the researchers note that it was remarkably unfazed by the presence of humans.

“When confronted directly, individuals showed no avoidance behavior and appeared remarkably tame, seemingly failing to recognize humans as potential predators. In addition, individuals were observed crossing open areas of understory slowly and without signs of vigilance, a behavior contrasting with the typically wary responses of other tinamous,” the study reads. 

The researchers have commented on how the behaviour of the new species has a striking resemblance to the dodo. The slaty-masked tinamou is ground-dwelling, naive to humans, and lacks natural fear of potential predators, all traits that ultimately contributed to the extinction of the dodo when Europeans arrived on Mauritius in the 17th century.

For now, the tinamou's tame behaviour isn't much of a problem since the area is remote and largely uninhabited, but that could soon change with plans to open the rainforest to economic development.

“The bird’s behavior mirrors historical accounts of the extinct dodo, and its extinction risk is equally real,” said Luis Morais, lead study author and a doctoral candidate in zoology at the Museu Nacional of Rio de Janeiro, the New York Times reports.

The new study is published in the journal Zootaxa.