The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Driven to extinction by the late 1600s, it was killed off by human activities, including overhunting, habitat destruction, and the introduction of non-native species that preyed on its eggs. The dodo is one of the earliest recorded cases of a […]
The Hawai’i Oo (Moho nobilis) was an endemic passerine bird from the Hawaiian Islands, classified under the now-extinct Mohoidae family, also known as Hawaiian honeyeaters. It was once widespread on the Big Island of Hawaii, with records indicating its ability to inhabit a range of altitudes.
This species is endemic to the tiny, fragmented forests of the Taita Hills, where it occurs in only four remnant patches, totalling less than 150 ha in area, on a single massif. It is also found in a larger patch of lesser disturbed forest on the adjacent massif of Mbololo. The Taita Hills are a […]
Comments on the Glaucous Macaw were first published by Sanchez Labrador (1767) who wrote that the Guaa’-obi lived along the banks of the Uruguay River, and to a lesser extent, in the forest near the Paraguay River. The species was first described by Vieillot in 1816, as Anodorhynchus glaucus, based on the observations of Azara […]
The great auk, now almost forgotten in the world by all except the ornithologists, is still remembered among the Penobscot as one of the legendary bird chiefs. While we may hesitate a moment in believing the strict identity of this now-extinct bird with the hero character in one of the creation tales, it nevertheless seems […]
Story After 35 years, a giant fossil penguin has finally been completely reconstructed, giving researchers new insights into prehistoric penguin diversity. The bones were collected in 1977 by Dr. Ewan Fordyce, a paleontologist from the University of Otago, New Zealand. In 2009 and 2011, Dr. Dan Ksepka, North Carolina State University research assistant professor of […]
The story The Huguenot refugee Francois Leguat discovered a relative of the Mauritian Red Rail during his two-year sojourn on the island of Rodrigues: Our Wood-hens are fat all the year round and of a most delicate taste. Their colour is always of a bright grey, and there is very little difference in the plumage […]
The story Although there is indeed fairly general acceptance of Brace’s Emerald as a valid species, the same doubts hang about it as in the aforementioned cases, and the present author considers it to be a rather poorly established species. However, a number of hummingbird experts have spoken in its favour and in line with […]
The story Two hundred years ago there were two specimens of this species in existence. Now there is just one. No-one knows where it came from or when it was collected, although this was certainly at some time during the last half of the eighteenth century. The specimen is now in the collection of the […]
The story Although so tiny in size the Stephens Wren was an altogether remarkable creature. It may have had the smallest natural range of any known bird. It may have been the only flightless passerine. It may have been the only creature discovered and then exterminated by a single animal – a lighthouse keeper’s cat. […]