Masked Finfoot Heliopais personatus

Masked Finfoot Heliopais personatus

Endangered

Borneo, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Singapore

The Masked Finfoot lives principally in rivers in lowland riverine forest including mangroves, but has been recorded in coastal and inland wetlands, such as tidal creeks, flooded forest, swamps and lakes (rarely reservoirs or industrial pools on passage). One off incidents may also have affected some populations such as oil spills (D. Simic in litt. 2014). 

The Masked Finfoot is endangered in parts of SE Asia including #Borneo #Malaysia primarily threatened by #deforestation for #agriculture including #palmoil. Support this forgotten animal with a brand #Boycott4Wildlife

Tweet

The main threat is the destruction and increased levels of disturbance to rivers in lowland riverine forest, driven by agricultural clearance and logging operations and increased traffic on waterways.

IUCN Red list

Kalimantan lost nearly 25% of its evergreen forest during 1985-1997. The impact of the major fires of 1997-1998 was patchy, with many small alluvial areas escaping damage(Fredriksson and Nijman 2004). However, such fires appear to be increasing in frequency and severity. In central Kalimantan, most remaining lowland forest is granted to logging concessions, with a negligible area currently afforded any protected status. The species was recorded in trade by TRAFFIC in 1998 when six birds were taken out of Kalimantan to Singapore(Shepherd 2000).

Support the conservation of this species

There are currently no conservation activities in place.

Create art to support this forgotten animal or join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and in the supermarket.

Further Information

BirdLife International. 2016. Heliopais personatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22692181A93340327. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692181A93340327.en. Downloaded on 05 February 2021.

---

Contribute in four ways

1. Creatives: Promote your creative business and use your creative expertise to raise awareness and join the fight to save endangered species. Join us!
2. Conservationists: Showcase your conservation work and activism, blog about the urgent issues that are vital right now. Find out more!
3. Animal lovers: Big supermarket brands are directly contributing to this species’ extinction by destroying forests. You can join the #Boycott4Wildlife by sharing information from this website and boycotting brands in the supermarket.
4. Activists in the UK, sign this petition: Prohibit the sale and use in the UK of palm oil and its derivatives in foods. Sign now!