Colours of Wildlife: Monias
Created | Updated Nov 18, 2023
Monias
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
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Onward we go looking at Madagascar's unique wildlife. Today we feature the Monias, or Subdesert Mesite, Monias benschi. This is one of only three living species of the Mesite family, the Mesitornithidae. These birds are reminiscent of thrushes or pigeons. The mesites appear to be an ancient family, which may have occurred much more widely in the past, but with the subsequent evolution of more 'modern' families got replaced everywhere except in Madagascar. But we haven't found any fossils yet to indicate where they used to occur or to show how they've evolved over time. The present-day mesites may thus not be that 'primitive'. They show plenty of fairly sophisticated features. Their relationship to other birds is still contentious. They've been considered relatives of pigeons, of gamebirds, or even of some groups of songbirds, and up until recently the were considered relatives of the Rails, in the crane order or Gruiformes. However, present investigations suggest they're kin to sandgrouse, and distant relatives of pigeons and perhaps cuckoos. They're put in their own order, the Mesitornithiformes. They are certainly the most unique of the surviving endemic Madagascan birds.
Like many other birds, but somewhat unusually for members of the crane order, mesites have patches of 'powder down' dispersed throughout their plumage. These are special feathers with dry, brittle tips. These disintegrate into granules when the bird nibbles at them with its bill; these granules can then be worked through the rest of the feathers to remove and absorb dirt and yucky substances to keep the plumage clean. They lack oil glands, which most other birds have and use to waterproof and condition their feathers.
The Monias is the largest of the three living mesite species. It is the only mesite that is strongly sexually dimorphic. I illustrated the male, which has a white breast with neat, crescent-shaped black spots. The female has large, dark reddish-brown blotches on her breast instead. This mesite grows to about 32 cm/12.5" in length, much of which is the long, curved bill and the long, thick tail. As its alternative name suggests, it inhabits the subdesert region of Madagascar. The island generally has quite a wet climate, intercepting moisture-heavy air currents blowing in from the tropical oceans to the east. Most of the moisture is intercepted by the long range of mountains running down the centre of the island. By the time the air reaches the western parts of the island, most of the moisture has already been shed as rain. The southwestern corner of Madagascar is the driest, and the only part that can be termed 'desert-like'. Even so, it is richly vegetated, and features perhaps the most weirdly eccentric and unique plants of the island. It takes the form of a 'forest' of spiny, succulent plants, including euphorbias, pachypodiums and members of the Didiereaceae, a mainly Madagascan family.
It is in these dry succulent forests that the Monias lives. It is active in the daytime, only resting during the hottest hours. Like the other mesites, it is mainly terrestrial, walking on the ground, bobbing its head and tail with each step, inspecting the leaf litter and thrashing and thrusting with its bill to uncover and catch small invertebrate critters. It also pokes its long bill into the ground to find burrowing grubs and other things; this leaves the soil surface 'dimpled' where it has fed. It also eats fruits, seeds and small amounts of vegetable matter. It can be found alone or in small to substantial (30 or so members) groups. Like the other mesites, it is not a strong flier. It was even considered flightless in the past. Although it mostly walks on the ground, it does enter shrubs and trees, where it roosts and nests. But it usually climbs into them using its feet instead of flying. When a group of subdesert mesites are encountered, they may use a ruse wherein they all scatter in different directions, then 'freezing' in shady patches or climbing/fluttering up to low branches where they will flatten themselves out, rendering themselves very difficult to see, remaining motionless for up to 30 minutes.
Subdesert mesites have characteristic calls. They tend to sing early in the morning; the songs can take the form of duets, or choruses joined by more than two birds. The singing of one group can stimulate a neighbour group to start singing as well. The songs are repeated phrases of 'zi-zi-zi' sounds punctuated by deeper 'urr'-sounds. The birds also give hissing alarm calls.
As does South Africa, Madagascar receives most of its rain in the summer. This is the breeding season for the monias. Not much has been observed of its breeding behaviour, but groups of males have been seen singing and contending by leaping at each other. Females were seen visiting different groups of males. It is possible that this species is polygamous, either with more than one female mating with one male, or one male impregnating more than one female. The nest is a platform of twigs lined with leaves and bits of bark. It's up in a shrub or tree at a height of 60cm to 2m/2'-7'. The nest is reached by climbing up inclined trunks, branches and tangles of climbers, rather than flying. The clutch can number up to three eggs, although it's possible that more than one female may lay in the same nest. Both sexes incubate. The chicks accompany their parents in foraging and may be fed and cared for up to a year long.
Like almost every living thing in Madagascar, the monias is endangered, along with its other two relatives. It is mainly threatened through destruction and degradation of its habitat. The spiny forests are desperately dependent on humans respecting and protecting them, their survival necessary for all of its denizens such as the subdesert mesites and many other species.
