Janam
ENDANGERED BIRD SPECIES IN INDIA
Since 1500, over 190 species of birds have become extinct, and this rate of extinction seems to be increasing. The situation is exemplified by Hawaii, where 30% of all known recently extinct bird taxa originally lived. Other areas, such as Guam, have also been hit hard; Guam has lost over 60% of its native bird taxa in the last 30 years, many of them due to the introduced Brown Tree Snake.
There are today about 10,000 species of birds, with roughly 1,200 considered to be under threat of extinction.
Island species in general, and flightless island species in particular are most at risk. The disproportionate number of rails in the list reflects the tendency of that family to lose the ability to fly when geographically isolated. Even more rails became extinct before they could be described by scientists; these taxa are listed in Later Quaternary Prehistoric Birds.
The extinction dates given below are usually approximations of the actual date of extinction. In some cases, more exact dates are given as it is sometimes possible to pinpoint the date of extinction to a specific year or even day (the San Benedicto Rock Wren is possibly the most extreme example—its extinction could be timed with an accuracy of maybe half an hour). Extinction dates in the literature are usually the dates of the last verified record (credible observation or specimen taken); in many Pacific birds which became extinct shortly after European contact, however, this leaves an uncertainty period of over a century because the islands on which they used to occur were only rarely visited by scientists.
[pic]
Dodo, based on Roelant Savery 's 1626 painting of a stuffed specimen– note the two same-side feet.
|Contents |
|[hide] |
|1 Extinct bird species |
|1.1 Struthioniformes
Since 1500, over 190 species of birds have become extinct, and this rate of extinction seems to be increasing. The situation is exemplified by Hawaii, where 30% of all known recently extinct bird taxa originally lived. Other areas, such as Guam, have also been hit hard; Guam has lost over 60% of its native bird taxa in the last 30 years, many of them due to the introduced Brown Tree Snake.
There are today about 10,000 species of birds, with roughly 1,200 considered to be under threat of extinction.
Island species in general, and flightless island species in particular are most at risk. The disproportionate number of rails in the list reflects the tendency of that family to lose the ability to fly when geographically isolated. Even more rails became extinct before they could be described by scientists; these taxa are listed in Later Quaternary Prehistoric Birds.
The extinction dates given below are usually approximations of the actual date of extinction. In some cases, more exact dates are given as it is sometimes possible to pinpoint the date of extinction to a specific year or even day (the San Benedicto Rock Wren is possibly the most extreme example—its extinction could be timed with an accuracy of maybe half an hour). Extinction dates in the literature are usually the dates of the last verified record (credible observation or specimen taken); in many Pacific birds which became extinct shortly after European contact, however, this leaves an uncertainty period of over a century because the islands on which they used to occur were only rarely visited by scientists.
[pic]
Dodo, based on Roelant Savery 's 1626 painting of a stuffed specimen– note the two same-side feet.
|Contents |
|[hide] |
|1 Extinct bird species |
|1.1 Struthioniformes
References: • King Island Emu, Dromaius ater (King Island, Australia, 1822) Extinct in the wild c. 1805, the last captive specimen died in 1822 in the Jardin des Plantes. • Kangaroo Island Emu, Dromaius baudinianus (Kangaroo Island, Australia, 1827) • West Coast Spotted Kiwi, Apteryx occidentalis (South Island, New Zealand, c. 1900) • Réunion Shelduck, Alopochen kervazoi (Réunion, Mascarenes, c.1690s) • Mauritian Shelduck, Alopochen mauritianus (Mauritius, Mascarenes, c.1695) • Amsterdam Island Duck, Anas marecula (Amsterdam Island, South Indian Ocean, c.1800) • Saint Paul Island Duck, Anas sp • Mauritian Duck, Anas theodori (Mauritius and Réunion, Mascarenes, late 1690s) • Mariana Mallard, Anas oustaleti (Marianas, West Pacific, 1981) • Labrador Duck, Camptorhynchus labradorius (Northeast North America, c.1880) • Auckland Islands Merganser, Mergus australis (Auckland Islands, Southwest Pacific, c.1902) • Raoul Island Scrubfowl, Megapodius sp. (Raoul, Kermadec Islands, 1876) A megapode is said to have inhabited Raoul Island until the population was wiped out in a volcanic eruption • New Zealand Quail, Coturnix novaezelandiae (New Zealand, 1875) • Himalayan Quail, Ophrysia superciliosa (North India, late 19th century?) • North Island Snipe, Coenocorypha barrierensis (North Island, New Zealand, 1870s) • South Island Snipe, Coenocorypha iredalei (South and Stewart Islands, New Zealand, 1964) • Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis (North Atlantic, early 1850s) • Canarian Black Oystercatcher, Haematopus meadewaldoi (Eastern Canary Islands, E Atlantic, c. 1940?) • Hawkins ' Rail, Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi (Chatham Islands, SW Pacific, 19th century) • Red Rail, Aphanapteryx bonasia (Mauritius, Mascarenes, c. 1700) • Rodrigues Rail, Aphanapteryx leguati (Rodrigues, Mascarenes, mid-18th century) • Bar-winged Rail, Nesoclopeus poecilopterus (Fiji, Polynesia, c. 1980) • Wake Island Rail, Gallirallus wakensis (Wake Island, Micronesia, 1945) • Tahiti Rail, Gallirallus pacificus (Tahiti, Society Islands, late 18th– 19th century)