In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, a strange song drew scientists to a new species of bird, the first of its kind identified in over 75 years. It’s cute and very relaxed, but unfortunately, it’s reminding ornithologists of an infamously ill-fated bird: the dodo. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The new species, the slaty-masked tinamou ( Tinamus resonans ), inhabits the mountain forests of the Serra do Divisor in western Amazonia, where an estimated 2,106 of the birds live.

Brazilian scientists first caught wind of the bird in 2021 when they were exploring the remote region and heard a strange, echoing call that sounded like a tinamou, yet matched no known species.

The team kept detecting the same ghostly song

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