Straw-headed Bulbul

Quick Facts
Get to Know
On the Job
Protecting Wildlife
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Quick facts

Lifespan

Around 10 years

Diet

Berries, figs, seeds

Also spiders, insects and snails

Habitat

Along river banks

Near forested areas

Range

Peninsular Malaysia,

Singapore and Borneo

The straw-headed bulbuls

The species coordinator

Manoj Kumar

Junior Animal Care Officer

Manoj Kumar

Junior Animal Care Officer

Tell us about what it means to be a species coordinator.

Being a species coordinator is a big responsibility but also very interesting and exciting. I get to collect information about all the straw-headed bulbuls in zoos worldwide to produce a studbook, which is a list of all the birds in zoos and their parentage.

Oh, you mean like a family tree?

Yes. With this info, I can carry out demographic and genetic analyses for the future management of the species. I will recommend which birds to pair up for breeding, based on their genetic value, and also make recommendations for transfers to new zoological institutions.

That makes you their matchmaker, doesn’t it?

You can say that! Due to the drastic decline in their numbers, this species was identified as being of high importance in the Asian Songbird Crisis Summit. We happened have a few donated birds and as there was very little info on husbandry, we decided to start breeding trials.

Which is to say it all started at JBP, then?

Yes, it was originally a JBP-only breeding programme. But it was upscaled to an international programme that manages all straw-headed bulbuls kept in zoos. Ultimately, we hope to have a self-sustainable population of healthy birds that can help replenish their population in the wild.

Together, we protect wildlife

Protecting the bulbuls

Jurong Bird Park has been leading the development of best practice guidelines to save this highly threatened species.

We are the only zoological institution holding the species and working on its conservation breeding. A chick was successfully bred in 2017 for the first time in over a decade and we have welcomed more chicks since.

The IUCN Status

Critically Endangered

At extremely high risk of extinction in the wild