It turns out that there are birds in the world whose poison can kill a person

Everyone has heard of poisonous spiders, snakes, fish and frogs. But not many people know that there are poisonous birds in the world. Today, science knows two poisonous species of birds, which, fortunately, do not live in our country.

The first of these cute birds is called the blue-headed ifrita kovaldi. It lives only in the topical forests of the island of New Guinea, its size does not exceed 20 centimeters. Her whole body is saturated with toxic poison - batrachotoxin. The internal organs, head, tail, paws and even feathers, ifrita kowaldi, contain toxic substances. This poison is so toxic that a person who just takes this bird in his hands will get severe burns and even numbness of his limbs. And if a tiger eats it, then death will overtake him in 10 minutes. There are known cases of death among the Papuans. Ifrita Cowaldi is on the list of 50 most dangerous animals in the world.

Scientists discovered the poisonous properties of this bird about 50 years ago. But the islanders have long been aware of the danger of this seemingly harmless bird. The Maori tribe reveres it as a holy bird, and hunting for it is prohibited.

In addition to ifrit, another poisonous bird lives in New Guinea - pitohu (pitoui). This genus combines three poisonous species, the most toxic of which is Pitohui dichrous. Outwardly, this species does not at all look like ifrit, but their essence is strikingly similar. The entire body of the pitoch is also saturated with batrachotoxin, from the beak to the tip of the feathers. Their bright black-and-orange plumage as if warns all animals that it is not worth it to hunt for fen.

But how do these birds manage to produce such a quantity of deadly poison, and why do they themselves not suffer from the action of batrachotoxin? The answer was very unexpected. The poison enters the body of birds with food - beetles of the genus Choresine pulchra, which form the basis of their diet. These insects are dangerous to most living creatures, and few dare to eat them. But ifrit and pitochu have in their body protection from this poison, so they quietly absorb these insects in large quantities. And I must say, such food has benefited them. Due to their toxicity, these species significantly increased their chances of survival, because predators do not hunt them.

Interestingly, after ifrites stop eating poisonous beetles, after a while they become completely non-toxic. Such an experiment was conducted by ornithologists during the study of this species. The poison is gradually removed from the body, and new portions are not received, so the bird becomes completely harmless.