The story When the first Dutch mariners landed on Mauritius, they were hungry after weeks at sea on meager rations. Naturally, they caught Dodos and ate them. Soon, however, they tired of the rather tough meat on these easily caught creatures and turned their attentions to smaller, tastier birds. Among those that they mentioned particularly […]
Category: extinct
Wake Rail (Gallirallus wakensis)
The story The Wake Rail has acquired the grim celebrity of having been eaten out of existence by hungry Japanese soldiers during World War II. Unable to fly, these rails could scuttle about their island home quickly, but despite their agility any efforts to escape would have been no match for the concerted efforts of […]
Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
The Dodo was endemic to Mauritius, but is now Extinct because of hunting by settlers and nest predation by introduced pigs. The last individuals were killed on the offshore islet Ile d’Ambre in 1662. Raphus cucullatus is known from numerous bones, specimen fragments, reports and paintings from Mauritius. It was last reported from an offshore […]
Grand Cayman Thrush (Turdus ravidus)
The story The Grand Cayman Thrush became extinct towards the middle of the twentieth century, but considering the comparative lateness of this date very little is known of it. One of the few things on record is a description of its song, which was apparently rather weak and hesitant, more, perhaps, a subdued warbling than […]
Molokai Oo (Moho bishopi)
The story The ‘o’o that inhabited the island of Molokai was discovered rather later than the others but it was known to science as an extant species for only a very short period. Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a sudden surge of interest in the birds of Hawaii, and several teams […]
White Gallinule (Porphyrio albus)
The story When British ships belonging to what was known as the First Fleet were dispatched under Governor Phillip to Australia during the late 1780’s, their task was to found a penal colony to which British felons could be transported. Much of interest surrounds this rather unpleasant endeavour and one of the by-products of the […]
Bonin Woodpigeon (Columba versicolor)
The story The avifaunas of several islands to the south of Japan have been badly depleted, and one of these island groups, the Bonins (Ogasawara), has lost several distinct forms. One of these was the Bonin Pigeon, a large, dark bird that was discovered in 1827 during the exploratory voyage of HMS Blossom. It seems […]
Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)
The story The Great Auk is one of the true stars of extinction. Its story rises and falls like a Greek tragedy. This was a creature that had evolved perfectly to take advantage of a particular ecological niche but its very adaptation rendered it totally incapable of withstanding the depredations of man. It is probably […]
Mysterious Starling (Aplonis mavornata)
The story This species is known from just a single skin in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. For many years this skin was a complete mystery and its origin was entirely unknown, but thanks to some comprehensive detective work conducted by Storrs Olson of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, its origin is […]
White-winged Sandpiper (Prosobonia leucoptera)
The story Whether there was one extinct species of sandpiper occupying the Pacific islands of Tahiti and Moorea or whether there were, in fact, two remains something of an enigma. The naturalists who actually saw the birds in life and handled fresh specimens were convinced that there was only one, but more recent commentators have […]