In the Last Decade, Four Birds Went Extinct and Four More Are Likely Gone
Habitat loss is the main culprit in killing off the birds, including Spix’s macaw, the star of the popular 2011 film Rio
By Jason Daley
September 10, 2018 6:00AM
Any bird watcher can tell you—finding a rare species is maddening, with the birds popping up at unexpected times then hiding again for days, months and sometimes even years. It’s the same with endangered birds. It’s hard to say if a species has truly gone extinct or if they’re are just being coy; there are stories every year about birds once believed to be extinct that suddenly reappear. But Patrick Barkham at The Guardian reports that a new study put together by BirdLife International says its time to erect tombstones for four bird species that have disappeared from the wild over the last decade and to get the casket ready for four more that are almost certainly gone.
Historically, 90 percent of the estimated 187 species of birds that we know have gone extinct lived almost exclusively on small islands where they had no place to flee from invasive species or habitat loss. Other, well, meatier species, like the dodo and the great auk were hunted as food by sailors, and some, considered agricultural pests, were exterminated on purpose. But the latest extinctions highlight a concerning trend. Some are taking place on large continents, in particular South America, that once insulated the animals from human impact. But no longer.
“People think of extinctions and think of the dodo but our analysis sh
Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/study-says-last-decade-4-birds-went-extinct-and-4-more-are-likely-gone-180970226/#T7Ah4F5EAg6Lht7f.99
