Japan's only wild-born crested ibis dies in cage Saturday October 11, 2003 / The Guardian Japan's last wild-born crested ibis died in captivity yesterday at the age of 36. ...The bird had flung herself into her cage door causing a brain haemorrhage.
The crested ibis - with its snowy, pink-tinged feathers, red face and sloping black beak - was once a common sight in rice paddy fields all over the country...but industrial development nearly wiped out the species as pesticides used on rice paddies and deforestation destroyed its habitat and food supply.
