Extinction Awareness Day

The Great Auk was the “penguin of the north". This 30 inch flightless bird ranged along most of the north Atlantic, but its nesting areas made it vulnerable to hunters.  They were often herded in mass numbers by passing sailors for meat or for feathers for pillows. One of the last major breeding islands on Funk Island was destroyed in a volcanic eruption.   The last documented breeding pair was killed on Eldey Island off the southwest coast of Iceland on July 3, 1844.  The men who killed this pair reportedly crushed an egg in the process.   There may have been a few other sightings after this date, but July 3, 1844 is usually set as the Great Auk's extinction date. Additional Resources: *  http://www.birdorable.com/meet/great-auk/ *  http://www.lostbirdfilm.org/explore_greatauk *  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HU2l2Jmhu4   (film by David Min - junior reporter) *  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIL357oO_l4  (...

The dodo is probably the best known of the recently extinct animals, though much of its existence are somewhat of a mystery.  There are so many references to the dodo in pop culture which I thought fitting to add at the end of today's post.  Will Cuppy summed up cultural perception of the Dodo when he stated, "The Dodo never had a chance.  He seemed to be invented for the sole purpose of going extinct and that is all he was good for." The Dodo bird was a very unique bird, who wasn't adapted to predators.  The Dodo was a 3 foot tall, 50 pound flightless member of the pigeon family that lived east of Madagascar on the island of Mauritius.  The dodo was eaten for food, even though sailors didn’t like the taste.  The dodo was labeled as foolish, because it was curious and didn’t fear people.  It is reported that sailors could knock on trees in the forest and the dodos would come to investigate the new noise. The tambalacoque tree also known as th...

Although the "dodo tree" is not extinct, it had been thought to be highly at risk due to the loss of the Dodo bird.  It was thought by 1973 that only 13 tree remained, all over 300 years old.  It had been determined that there are probably a few hundred trees left today, but it's been hard to tell for sure. The seed of the Tambalacoque tree has a very thick shell.  It had been theorized that without the Dodo present the Tambalacoque seeds would not be able to germinate on their own. These seeds had been a favorite of the Dodo and once ingested could be transported and broken down, thus starting the next tambalacoque generation. They seem to have had a symbiotic relationship. Today wild turkeys are being fed Tambalacoque seeds to break down the hard shell and people are even scraping the dense coating off by hand in order to plant the next generation. It seems that the Tambalacoque tree will be able to stave off extinction without the Dodo there to help out, th...

The Steller’s Sea Cow was a 30 foot sea cow that used to inhabit most of the Northern Pacific Ocean,  but its range was severely diminished by the time it was first spotted.  Steller's Sea Cows weren't discovered until 1741 when Russian explorer Vitus Bering shipwrecked on the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. Georg Steller was the naturalist with the expedition who named the Steller's Sea Cow, the Steller's Jay, the Steller's Sea Lion, and the Steller's Sea Eagle (he really liked his last name). The crew hunted the Steller's Sea Cows for food, oil, and skins.  Steller's company only ate what they needed to survive before they were able to repair their ship.  When they returned home, they  spread the word about where to find these huge, tasty, easy-to-catch behemoths.    Sea cow I made during an Eric Carle lesson with my kids Steller noted that they were not scared of people at all and always stayed close to shore eating seaweed. Stel...

The Carolina Parakeet once thrived from the Gulf of Mexico north as far as New York and Wisconsin.  They survived the long cold winters by huddling together inside trees.   Carolina Parakeets were even kept as pets, but with colonization came new favorite food sources. They changed their natural diet and were soon viewed as a pest and killed by farmers.   The last pair survived at the Cincinnati Zoo for 35 years, until Lady Jane died.  Soon after Incas, her mate, died.  The Carolina Parakeet went extinct February 21, 1918. Additional Resources: Mounted Carolina Parakeet http://www.lostbirdfilm.org/explore_carolinaparakeet http://www.birdorable.com/meet/carolina-parakeet/ Mounted Carolina Parakeet Image from Wikipedia  Carolina Parakeet as a pet  taken in 1906 Image from Wikipedia

The Stephen’s Island Wren was a small flightless bird that lived on the small island called Stephens Island. Stephens Island is situated between the northern and southern halves of New Zealand. Lighthouse of Stephens Island Image from Wikipedia This made Stephens Island an ideal location for a lighthouse.   David Lyall, the lighthouse keeper, moved onto Stephens Island to run the lighthouse in 1894.  He reported that the Stephens Island Wrens would run around the island like mice.  Unfortunately for the Stephens Island Wrens, Mr. Lyall was lonely, so he brought his cat Tibbles to live with him.  Cats are an invasive species that can do a lot of damage to a population, but for the Stephens Island Wrens, one cat and one year was all it took to eliminate the entire species (though some sources say there may have been a few other feral cats there). The Stephens Island Wren went extinct in 1895. Additional Resources: http://www.arkive.org/steph...

The Ilin Island Cloudrunner is not at all related to Luke Skywalker.  It was a fluffy coated rat the size of a house cat that lived high in the mountains of Ilin Island in the Philippine Island group.  It is only know from one specimen collected April 4, 1953 by Pablo Soriano.  He gave this specimen to the Museum of Natural History in DC.   There are 4 types of cloudrunners, also known as cloud rats.  All cloudrunners belong to the group Crateromys.  Not much is known about this elusive group of aniamls.  The Panay Cloudrunner for instance was unknown to scientists until 1987, and wasn't even labeled as a species until 1996. The Ilin Island Cloudrunners lived in trees and were nocturnal.  They were believed to eat fruits and leaves in the mountain forests.   Most of the forests on Ilin Island have been cut down by people, so it seems that they succumbed to habitat loss soon after Soriano's specimen was collected. Additional Resource...