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Daud Badu: A savior of maleo birds
JP/Syamsul Huda M
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JP/Syamsul Huda M.Suhari
He was moving agilely through coastal shrubberies on a cloudy hot day. After a while, he halted and promptly scooped out a heap of sand with his bare hands. From a depth of 40 centimeters, he took out two eggs slightly bigger than chicken eggs.
“The eggs belong to gosong birds [Megapodiidae]. I’ve just hatched them,” said Daud Badu, 53. The lean and dark-skinned man is a wild animal breeder in Panua Nature Reserve, Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo, a conservation zone for various wildlife species like turtles and maleo (Macrocephalon maleo),
Sulawesi’s endemic and shy birds.
Every morning and afternoon, he is in charge of finding the eggs of protected maleo in the zone, marking them before being moved and hatched in artificial nests so as to prevent them from being preyed upon by predators like snakes, boars or lizards.
In fact, it is not an easy job to discover their eggs because maleo birds are very skilled in making camouflaged sand nests in order to trick the egg marauders. Daud outsmarts maleo, though.
His detection is virtually always accurate as he knows for sure which sand heap hides maleo eggs and which is empty. He can also gauge the age of the eggs since their incubation in the sand by examining their shells and gazing at them against sunlight.
Daud seems to have developed a talent for detecting maleo eggs, because his hunting instinct was considerably nurtured as a teenager, when he frequently accompanied his father in the search for bird eggs.
“We used to hunt maleo eggs almost every day to be sold at quite a high price, Rp2,500 (26 US cents) per egg. It was in the early 1980s,” related the father of three. A maleo egg is about three times as big as a chicken egg. According to Daud, maleo eggs are more appetizing, which may be the reason for their high demand.
He was also hunting gosong bird eggs, which are also hidden in the sand in the way maleo birds hatch their young. In his search for eggs, Daud frequently found maleo fledglings as a “bonus”. At the time he had no idea that maleo, known as monogamous birds, were a protected endangered species.
However, Daud’s life changed when he got an offer to work as a wildlife breeder from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of North Sulawesi, Gorontalo section.
In early 2012, the BKSDA tested Daud’s ability to detect maleo eggs in the zone of Panua Nature Reserve. After witnessing his skill in discovering the eggs with ease, the agency readily employed him as a breeder of protected animals.
Now he has great responsibility for local wildlife conservation. Regardless of weather conditions, Daud is in charge of inspecting, seeking and evacuating fresh maleo and turtle eggs.
Unwilling to be outwitted by maleo birds in hiding eggs, Daud also has his own special trick to disguise the manmade nests where maleo eggs are moved and protected from the threat of predators.
“I urinate on the nest heaps I’ve built. Experience shows this method has always worked. Snakes, boars or lizards can’t sniff out the presence of eggs inside,” Daud smilingly revealed.
Besides, it requires great care to uncover maleo nests and move their eggs. “The eggs shouldn’t be shaken much or they won’t hatch,” warned the man who had only a few years’ primary education.
Incubated in artificial nests, maleo eggs will generally hatch within two months and five days. But during the rainy season the hatching period can be a bit longer.
The existence of maleo and other animals in the Panua reserve is virtually under threat. The conservation zone, previously covering 45,575 hectares, has kept shrinking and is currently only 36,000 hectares.
The shrinkage has resulted from mangrove forest conversion into ponds, farms and settlements. Therefore, it’s not easy today to watch maleo birds and find their eggs. Three rangers are assigned to Panua to guard and control the sanctuary.
Maleo birds rely on the heat of the earth to hatch their eggs. A female bird only lays one egg. A maleo pair will normally survey the coastal forest before the birth of their chick and build a camouflage layer for protection. Not long after hatching, most maleo chicks are able to leave their nests and feed on their own. But these birds recognize their home and will return.
In 2012, Daud managed to hatch 150 maleo eggs and released the young to the forest, besides also discharging 83 baby turtles to the sea. Now he still takes care of 91 turtle eggs, with some newly hatched ones, plus a number of maleo eggs already moved to new nests.
Daud takes pride in his job and the daily task of breeding wild and protected animals in Panua Nature Reserve, which is adjacent to the village where he lives, also called Maleo.
The former fisherman and bird and turtle hunter is now leading a new life as a savior of protected wildlife species, which without his intervention and devotion might only be told to children as a bedtime story.
