Tuesday 18 June
Graceful pitta (Pitta venusta)
VULNERABLEGraceful pitta fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Graceful pitta description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Passeriformes |
| Family | Pittidae |
| Genus | Pitta (1) |
Despite its bright crimson belly, the graceful pitta blends in with the forest floor and is seldom seen. It is a stumpy-looking bird, with dark brown upperparts tinged with purple, and a long, brown tail. The head is blackish-maroon and a distinct azure-blue streak runs from above its dark brown eye to the nape. Adult graceful pittas have black bills, while the bill of juveniles is tipped with red. Juveniles can also be distinguished from adults by their plain dark brown plumage (2).
- Also known as
- black-crowned pitta.
- Synonyms
- Pitta granatina.
- Size
- Length: 18 cm (2)
-
BirdLife International:
www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=4014&m=0 -
IUCN Red List (September, 2007)
http://www.iucnredlist.org - del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (2003) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol.8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
- BirdLife International. (2001) Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
More »
Top
Related species
Graceful pitta biology
Graceful pittas skulk about the forest floor, turning over leaves and moss to reveal insects, small snails and beetles, worms and seeds, on which they feed (2) (3). Only a single nest of the graceful pitta has been discovered; it was a domed structure made of dead leaves, bamboo leaves, fine roots, decayed fibres and moss. It was situated 60 centimetres off the ground, amongst the leaves of an orchid growing on the trunk of a fallen tree. The graceful pitta lays clutches of two to three creamy eggs, freckled with dark spots (2).
TopGraceful pitta range
Occurs in the highlands of Sumatra, where it has been chiefly found in the Barisan Mountain range (2) (3).
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Graceful pitta habitat
The graceful pitta inhabits damp, dark rainforest, favouring ravines under dense cover. It has been recorded from 400 to 1,400 metres above sea level (2)
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Graceful pitta status
Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1).
Graceful pitta threats
The destruction, degradation and fragmentation of Sumatran forests threaten the survival of the graceful pitta. Almost all the lowland forest within the pitta’s range has already been destroyed, and an estimated 40 percent of montane forest has been lost, primarily due to shifting cultivation (2). Widespread hunting with air rifles and ground snares poses an additional threat (3), and the rapidly growing human population of Sumatra is likely to mean that without sufficient protection, the graceful pitta will become increasingly vulnerable to extinction (2).
TopGraceful pitta conservation
The graceful pitta has been legally protected since 1931, and populations occur within Kerinci-Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Parks (2), although the degree of protection these measures afford is dubious. Effective management and enforcement of protected areas is vital for the conservation of this vulnerable bird, along with further field research to provide a basis for a much-needed conservation strategy (2).
|
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. |
Find out more
For further information on the graceful pitta see:
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
References
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Saturday 15 June
Saturday 15 June
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Graceful pitta perched
© Konrad Wothe / gettyimages.com
Getty Images
101 Bayham Street
London
NW1 0AG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 800 376 7981
sales@gettyimages.com
http://www.gettyimages.com
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.