100 years ago today, on September 1 1914, the Passenger Pigeon became extinct when the last individual, Martha, died at Cincinnati Zoo. Once the most abundant bird in America, its became an icon of extinction. Could it ever return? Full Story on National Geographic: Century After Extinction, Passenger Pigeons Remain Iconic?And Scientists Hope to Bring Them Back See rest of story, including 3D gif of a passenger pigeon, on link above.
There is a fascinating correspondence in the Bronx Zoo archives that begins with the founding director of the Cincinnati Zoo, Sol Stephan, asking the Bronx Zoo's famous director, William Hornaday, if he knew of anyone who could provide Cincinnati with a Passenger pigeon. I don't remember whether Cincinnati was down to one individual at the time or more. But the two directors agreed that there had been no confirmed sightings of the species in years and no other zoo had any. It was touching to read this discussion written at a time when the species was probably already extinct in the wild.
And in extinct passenger pigeon news: Passenger pigeon extinction: it's complicated | @GrrlScientist | Science | theguardian.com
According to zootiereliste, these collections in Europe held Passenger Pigeons. ZootierlisteHomepage By my translation from German, Knowsley held seventy birds in 1851. If only....
Indeed. After the death of Lord Stanley, the Earl of Derby, the contents of the Knowsley Menagerie were sold at auction in 1851.The auction catalogue records that the sale included seventy passenger pigeons, all bred at Knowsley. And the species bred so well at Knowsley that surplus birds were periodically liberated from their aviary.........
All of which makes this an extinct species infinitely more painful to consider than the California Parakeet or Thylacine, to name but two - although I believe Knowsley did not do too badly with those either.
I've never come across a reference to a thylacine in the Knowsley Menagerie; London Zoo received its first thylacines (a pair) in 1850 the year before the Earl of Derby died and his menagerie sold. What is the source for a thylacine in the Knowsley Menagerie please?
Wow. Amazing and shocking to think that something so common, and so successfully bred in zoos, could be allowed to disappear.
The Natural History Museum has compiled a list of 100 facts to mark the anniversary. Although "100 facts" seems to be stretching it a bit far, and I note that #92 & 93 at least are missing! Full list here: NaturePlus: Behind the scenes: 100 passenger pigeon facts on the 100th anniversary of its extinction A couple that I found most interesting:
I meant to write "the former" rather than "those" - in other words I was referring to the Carolina Parakeet!
I own a copy of the volume about the 13th Earl of Derby published by NMGM (National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside) published to coincide with an exhibition about him at Liverpool Museum in 2002. The 70 passenger pigeons were sold in 5 lots when the Earl's collection was auctioned after his death in 1851. There is a male specimen at York Museum which came from Knowsley, it was originally purchased by Audubon in New York in 1830. The Earl's will allowed Queen Victoria and the Zoological Society of London to each select a lot before the sale started: she chose the group of 5 Himalayan monals, the Society chose the herd of 5 Cape elands. The ZSL also purchased 160 animals of 62 species for almost £1000. Amsterdam and Paris zoos bought animals too. In total 641 lots were sold for £6400. How different things might be if one of the zoos had bought all the passenger pigeons and followed the Earl's methods - but of course in 1851 there was no concept of captive breeding of endangered species (it didn't really exist in 1951 either) and of course, the passenger pigeon was still a very common bird. The Carolina parakeet was at Knowsley much earlier, it died in 1812, before the 13th Earl succeeded to the title (he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Stanley). Alan
Thanks for the clarification, Dave, this makes sense now; I would have been very surprised to learn that Knowsley Menagerie did have a thylacine.
There were later Carolina parakeets at Knowsley too; the auction catalogue, for the 1851 Knowsley Menagerie sale, lists four Carolina parakeets for sale. Amsterdam (Artis) Zoo purchased the Knowsley quagga; this is probably the mounted specimen now in the Tring Museum.
I think even as late as this there was still a large number amongst the scientific world that didn't believe that a species could go extinct, that there would always be more somewhere.
In 1851 that would be like a program to breed field mice. Given the wholesale slaughter of the species for food and other uses, it is clear that no one could imagine it would become scarce let alone disappear. And it we were looking at one flock of anything with 3billion individuals, would we think differently?
An article by John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/o...m_term=0_47588b5758-a2816d4773-302404249&_r=2