Extinction Awareness Day

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was the largest species of woodpecker in the United States.  For size, it was second only to the Imperial Woodpecker from Mexico, which went extinct in 1962. The ivory billed woodpecker gets its name from the ivory color of its bill, which is different from other species, like the common pileated woodpecker.  People often mistake the two.  Besides its size of 20 inches, the easiest way to distinguish it from a distance is by its white striped wings when in flight.  (see diagram below) The ivory billed woodpecker favored the large growth forest of the southern United States.  This is where the parents would raise their chicks in a hole in a tree.  The male and female look similar, but the male's crest was red, whereas the female's was black. The call of the ivory billed woodpecker was also unique.  It's distinct kent, kent call had been recorded in the 1930's and and example of that can be found below. This bird's love of ol...

Thank you to all of my followers (A little birdie told me there are about a dozen of you).  I have revamped my site and hope to be able to better highlight animals that have gone extinct in recent times, the past 350 years or so.   My goal for starting this blog has been 2 fold. 1) To bring attention to those animals that have gone extinct in recent years, so that we can hopefully save critically endangered animals from similar fates.  There are so many amazing creatures that we'll never be able to see in the wild or in zoos. 2) To be able to use some of my creativity to get people interested in recently extinct animals, which is why I wrote my book, Deader Than a Dodo.   I'm hoping that by putting extinct animals into an adventure, kids will get more excited about saving creatures facing similar fates in the near future. My goal is is to do a post every other day that highlights extinct animals and have  a drawing/cartoon to accompany it.  I...

The Baiji, also known as the Yangtze River Dolphin, was one of several freshwater dolphin species.  It was 7 - 8 feet long and lived in the freshwater of the Yangtze River in China.  It is believed that they lived up to 24 years.  The word "baiji" in Chinese means "white dolphin".  The Chinese called the baiji, the "Goddess of the Yangtze".   The baiji were never used as a food source, but they had trouble surviving as the people began more efficient fishing processes in the river.  The baiji would often get tangled in fishing lines and nets left in the river.  If they couldn't get the the surface to breathe, they would drown.  The development of dams and cities along the Yangtze River caused additional stressors for the baiji.   Scientists in China began working on a species protection plan in 1985.  The last baiji in captivity died in 2002.  In 2006 the baiji was listed as "critically endangered" (meaning very few were r...

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.  

The Pinta Island Tortoise, also known as the Abingdon Island Tortoise, was thought to be extinct in the early 1900's, until Lonesome George was discovered on Pinta Island in 1971 by scientists working there.   Domed Shell Saddle back "Pinties" as they were sometimes called, were one of 15 subspecies of Galapagos tortoises.  5 are no longer in existence.  Galapagos tortoises come in two "styles" The larger "dome shelled" tortoises with shorter necks for eating ground vegetation and the "saddle back" tortoises which were lighter with longer necks to reach higher vegetation.  Pinta Island Tortoises were part of the saddle back group. The Galapagos tortoises were hunted by whalers and pirates as a food source because they could weigh up to 900 lbs and live for over 6 months without any food or water.  Hundreds would be rounded up at a time, and used for meals later in the year.  It is believed that there were once 250,000 tortoises...

Lonesome George lived for 41 years at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) until his death, and the Pinta Island Tortoise Extinction on June 24, 2012 as I covered on the last post. What's interesting is the debates and controversies that have taken place over Lonesome George since his death. Debate 1 - Where to keep George on display? George was sent to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to be professionally mounted since he was an icon for extinct animals known world wide. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/lonesome-george   Then during his return to the Galapagos to be put on display at the CDRS, the government of Ecuador decided they wanted to display Lonesome George in Quito, Ecuador's capital.  This is a debate that is still going on today. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29319048 Debate #2 - Is the Pinta Island Tortoise really extinct? Since Galapagos tortoises were captured as a food source by whalers, it is thought ...

Since I have taught 4th & 5th graders for the past 18th, I've always enjoyed exposing students to literature that will get them to think about things and get into great discussions about a variety of topics. Now that I have three kids of my own I have an even bigger drive to get the next generation excited about understanding how to save currently endangered animals from extinction. The premise of the book is that Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise volunteers to go extinct early in order to help 9 extinct animals return to earth.  There  are 3 "triads" in the story and my kids had a ton of great questions, so I put together some visual aides to help them follow the animals in my book as they try to save mankind. I'm not sure if they're more excited about hearing my book or seeing the pictures of my characters.   The Northern Triad: - Eldey the Great Auk - Boomer the Heath Hen - Martha the Passenger Pigeon The Southern Triad: - Benjamin...

The Giant Moa was the tallest bird ever, standing up to 12 feet high, but oddly they seem to have had no wings. They were a member of the ratite family like the emu or ostrich.  There were 9 species of moa at one time in New Zealand. The Giant Moa, like all other moa species probably went extinct sometime in the early 1500’s due to over hunting when Maori people arrived in New Zealand.   Additional Resources: *  https://en.wikipedi a.org/wiki/Moa#/media/File:Dinornithidae_SIZE_01.png *  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa#/media/File:Dinornis1387.jpg *  http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/moa *  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3h05ajJw0o *  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jfz0xr0t2M   *  https://www.awesomeinventions.com/moa-3300-year-old-bird-claw/ Sir Richard Owen with Giant Moa Fossil - Image from Wikipedia Did you know a moa once battled Superman in a comic?  It's also the mascot of an online team and a coffee sho...

The Falkland Island Wolf (F.I.W.) is a scientific mystery.  It is the only land mammal found on the Falkland Islands.  No one knows whether they are more closely related to foxes found in South America or how they made their way to the Falkland Islands in the first place.  Some scientists believe they may have been brought to the Falkland Island by native people similar to how the dingoes got to Australia.  (The additional resources below give some scientific findings trying to figure out the F.I.W.'s ancestry) The F.I.W. was also known as the Antarctic Wolf, or the Warrah (translated as "foolish dog of the south")  It had tawny colored fur, with a darker tail ending in a white tip. The F.I.W.'s diet consisted of whatever it could find; mostly penguins, geese, and seal pups.  They would also scavenge for insects and things that washed up on shore.  Some sailors would later report how skinny the F.I.W. got in the winter time.  (See sketch ...