Endangered maleo bird of Indonesia bouncing back from the brink

By Joshua Rapp Learn

Maleos, colourful Indonesian birds that look a bit like quirky chickens, are endangered. But an initiative to protect the species has helped boost the number of nesting birds at some sites.

The maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) has a flashy black and white body with a peach-coloured breast, a strange helmet-like head crest and a reddish orange beak. It lays eggs five times the size of a chicken egg, and the young can fly almost as soon as they hatch …