Discovery: First Scientifically Confirmed Poisonous Bird

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/17/Expedition_...

Jack Dumbacher, researcher at the California Academy of Sciences, discusses his 1980s discovery of New Guinea's Hooded Pitohui, the first poisonous bird to be documented by science.

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Dr. Jack Dumbacher, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the California Academy of Sciences, talks about his field expeditions to Papua New Guinea.

Some of the best discoveries in science are completely serendipitous. Dr. Dumbacher discovered, quite by accident, that a common New Guinea bird uses potent poisons for protection -- a defense never before documented in birds. And that's just the beginning of the story... - California Academy of Sciences