10.5061/DRYAD.MSBCC2FVZ
Marshall, Harry
0000-0002-7277-4684
Manchester Metropolitan University
Collar, Nigel
BirdLife International
Lees, Alexander
0000-0001-7603-9081
Manchester Metropolitan University
Moss, Andrew
Chester Zoo
Yuda, Pramana
0000-0002-4934-5814
Atma Jaya University Yogyakarta
Marsden, Stuart
Manchester Metropolitan University
Data from: Characterising bird-keeping user-groups on Java reveals
distinct behaviours, profiles and potential for change
Dryad
dataset
2020
Cage-bird
Wildlife trade
consumer demand
conservation marketing
Sustainable use
2020-07-17T00:00:00Z
2020-07-17T00:00:00Z
en
85268 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Over 70 million cage-birds are kept across 12 million households on the
island of Java, Indonesia, fuelling serious concerns for the health of
regional wild bird populations. Understanding the behaviours, preferences
and demographic profiles of bird-keepers will guide attempts to reduce
demand for wild birds and hence the impact of trade on wild populations
and their host ecosystems. 2. We profile three songbird-keeping
user-groups based on interviews of nearly one thousand people across Java:
Hobbyists, who own birds primarily as pets; Contestants, who own birds to
enter in singing contests; and Breeders, who own birds to breed and train
for resale or as a pastime. 3. User-groups diverged in their bird-keeping
habits and preferences. Hobbyists tended to own small numbers of
inexpensive and typically native birds, while contestants and breeders
owned larger numbers of often valuable birds. Hobbyists were far less
likely to consider origin when buying a bird, owned a larger proportion of
both potentially wild-caught and globally threatened birds, but showed no
preference for any taxon. By contrast, owning relatively large numbers of
lovebirds (Agapornis spp.) and Zebra Doves (Geopelia striata) were key
characteristics of contestants, while breeders owned the largest number of
birds and species, in particular White-rumped Shamas (Kittacincla
malabarica). Within a two-year period, user-group membership was fluid,
with much transitioning between non-bird ownership and hobbyists,
recruitment of non-bird owners to contestants, and movement both in and
out of the breeder group. 4. Our study provides behavioural change efforts
with demographic and geographic profiles to target bird-keepers, who
tended to be more affluent, urban and live in the eastern provinces. Among
bird-keepers, hobbyists tended to be middle-aged and live in the western
provinces, contestants were younger urban bird-keepers employed in
business, and breeders were commoner in the eastern provinces, reflecting
the cultural importance of bird-keeping among the Javanese. 5. Efforts to
increase the sustainability of bird-keeping in Java should focus on
emphasising the importance of captive-bred birds, in particular to
hobbyists, the largest user-group, whose bird-keeping behaviour poses the
biggest threat to wild bird populations, whilst also incentivising
legitimate breeding enterprises among contestants and breeders.