PASSENGER PIGEON - PART 2 (MARTHA)

There were a series of lasts for the Passenger Pigeons.

 1) The last nesting pair = 1895

 2) The last wild one = shot with a bb gun by 12 year old Press Clay Southworth in Sargents, Ohio on March 22, 1900

 3) Martha dies at Cincinnati Zoo at 1pm on September 1, 1914.

 This post is will discus Martha's last days and travels since her death.  Martha was given to the Cincinnati Zoo by Charles Otis Whitman in 1902 though some sources say Martha was hatched at the zoo.  Martha and her cage mate, George, were named after George and Martha Washington.

 By 1909, Martha and 2 males, were the last Passenger Pigeons in existence.

 George died on July 10, 1910, leaving Martha the sole representative of her once abundant species.

 Martha grew older and people visiting the zoo would often throw handfuls of sand at her to get her to move.  The zoo decided to rope off her cage.

 It is thought that Martha was 29 years old at the time of her death.

 Her body was frozen in a block of ice and sent to Washington DC's Smithsonian Institution where she was displayed for some time.

 She was then removed and taken to the museum vaults until she was redisplayed in 2015 at the Museum of Natural History. 

 There was a memorial built at the Cincinnati Zoo to remember Martha, and ironically Incus, the last Carolina Parakeet, died in Martha's cage in 1918.

 Additional Resources:
http://naturalhistory.si.edu/vz/birds/Martha/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/100-years-after-death-martha-last-passenger-pigeon-still-resonates-180952445/?no-ist

http://library.si.edu/exhibition/once-there-were-billions

http://www.lostbirdfilm.org/explore_passengerpigeon

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58678/10-facts-about-extinct-passenger-pigeon

Comic by unknown illustrator about Martha
By the Lost Bird Project statue in DC

My kids posing in DC with Martha

The building where Martha went extinct at Cincinnati Zoo

Memorial Plaque at Cincinnati Zoo

Martha on display in DC

Martha as a logo for Oranges

Most well known image of Martha

Picture of Martha

University like logo from birdorable.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KAWEKAWEAU (DELCOURT'S GIANT GECKO)

Image
The Kawekaweau was the largest member of the gecko family that lived in New Zealand.  It was nearly 24 inches long, which is about twice as large as any other gecko species ever known.  It was the width of a man's wrist and had reddish stripes running the length of its body. Scientists thought that the Kawekaweau was simply a legend for a long time. The name Delcourt comes from the French scientist who rediscovered the only known specimen of of the Kawekaweau in the Natural History Museum of Marseille in 1986. The last recorded living Kawekaweau was in 1870 by a Maori chief.  It is thought that the arrival of Europeans and the invasive species they brought; rats, cats, and weasels took their toll on the Kawekaweau. Additional Resources: http://gizmodo.com/this-specimen-of-an-extinct-giant-gecko-was-found-in-a-1742435773 Drawing from the book, A Gap in Nature The only known specimen of a Kawekaweau
Read more

Visiting Lonesome George in NYC and Martha the Passenger Pigeon in DC

Image
I started this blog  to point out animals you'll never get a chance to meet first hand.  No, I'm not talking about unicorns or centaurs, but about recently extinct animals.  2014 was a big one in extinction news because it marked the 100 year anniversary of the passenger pigeon, when Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914 at 1pm.  I took my family to the Cincinnati Zoo, but Martha's statue wasn't there because they were building a memorial that opened a few weeks after our visit. My wife and I also got to see the real Lonesome George who was on display in New York at the Natural History Museum, before being shipped back to be displayed in the Galapagos.  
Read more

YUNNAN LAKE NEWT

Image
The Yunnan Lake Newt (YLN) was a newt that lived in the region in and around Kunming Lake in the Yunnan Providence in China.  The YLN was about an inch long and the male and female coloration varied slightly. The Yunnan Lake Newt was last seen in 1979.  As the cities around its lake habitat increased, its population plummeted. Amphibians like frogs, salamanders, and newts are extremely vulnerable to pollution because they absorb water, oxygen, and even toxins through their porous skin.  There are many concerns for many amphibian species today (see 2nd link below). Besides pollution, habitat loss for increased housing also took its toll on the YLN population.  The addition of invasive species were the nail in the coffin for this species.  The newts couldn't compete with the addition of domestic ducks, exotic fish and frogs added to the lake. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/amphibians/species_info.php?id=1367 http://frogsaregreen.org/tag/yunnan-lake-n
Read more