Bird's Head Peninsula

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Bird's Head Peninsula seen from space (false color)

The Bird's Head Peninsula highlighted.

The Bird's Head (Indonesian: Kepala Burung, Dutch: Vogelkop) Peninsula or Doberai Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the Province of West Papua, Indonesia.

Contents [hide] 1 Location and geography 2 Flora and fauna 3 Culture 4 References

[edit] Location and geography

The Bird's Head Peninsula forms the north-western end of the island of New Guinea. To the east is Cenderawasih Bay and to the south Bintuni Bay. To the west, across the Dampier Strait is Waigeo island of Raja Ampat, and Batanta island lies just off the northwest tip. The peninsula south is Bomberai Peninsula.
The peninsula is around 200 by 300 kilometres, and is bio-geographically diverse, containing coastal plains to the south and 3,000 metre high mountains in the north, including the Arfak Mountains.^[1]

[edit] Flora and fauna

The King Bird-of-paradise is one of over 300 bird species on the peninsula.

The peninsula is covered by the Vogelkop Montane Rain Forests Ecoregion. It includes more than 22,000 km² of montane forests at elevations of 1,000 m and higher. Over 50% of these forests are located within protected areas. There are over 300 bird species on the peninsula, of which at least 20 are unique to the ecoregion, and some live only in very restricted areas. These include the Grey-banded Munia, Vogelkop Bowerbird, and the King Bird-of-paradise.^[2]
Road construction, illegal logging, commercial agricultural expansion and ranching potentially threaten the integrity of the ecoregion.^[2] The south-western coast of the peninsula forms part of the Teluk Cenderawasih National Park.^[3]

[edit] Culture

Archaeological findings indicate that local settlement dates back at least 26,000 years BP.^[1] Today, most people live in villages along the coast, with small concentrations inland. Villagers practise subsistence farming by shifting cultivation of copra, rice, corn and peanuts, as well as hunting.^[2] The largest settlements are the city of Sorong in the west and Manokwari in the east.
There are a large number of traditional languages spoken on the peninsula, classified as South Bird's Head languages, East Bird's Head languages, or West Papuan languages.