Bird 153 – Ruspoli’s Turaco

I’d like to introduce you to a rather unique individual, Ruspoli’s Turaco (Turaco Ruspolii)

They’re a goofy looking green bird, sporting a white mohawk, with some aggressive orange eye shadow. Some might say they’re forward leaning fashionistas. But let’s start with that name: Ruspoli. Eugenio Ruspoli was an Italian explorer who first discovered our little Turaco on an expedition to Ethiopia in the 1890s. But his travels didn’t quite pan out the way he hoped. You see, not long after he found this bird he got trampled to death by an elephant. Don’t feel too bad for the guy. By all accounts, he either murdered or robbed many of the local indigenous peoples he came across, so ‘trampled to death by elephant’ is probably the best he could hope for.

Eugenio added to his quality of ‘all-round-terrible-human’ by also being a sloppy note taker. To the annoyance of everyone, he didn’t record where exactly he found the Turaco, so it wasn’t until the 1940s that the bird was rediscovered.

Now Ruspoli’s Turaco is quite the curious creature. You may recall when we spoke about green birds, I said they don’t use pigment to create their colour. I did mention, though, that there was one exception to the rule … well here it is. This Turaco, and its relatives, are the only birds that can make a green pigment. It’s called Turacoverdin, and it’s copper based. Turaco’s extract the copper from their fruit rich diet. Young Turacos are born quite plain, and scientists speculate that it takes them about a year to acquire enough copper to start putting out the fancy feathers.

Turacos also produce a unique red pigment called Turacin, which is also copper based. I told you, when it comes to fashion these guys are way out there. Pigments, plumes, they do it all.

27/09/2020