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Since 1600, over 100 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 now-extinct species originally lived. Other areas, such as Guam, have also been hard hit; Guam has lost over 60% of its native species in the last 30 years, many of them to imported snakes.
There are today about 10,000 species of birds, and 1186 of them are considered to be under threat of extinction. Except for 11 species, the threat is man-made.
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.
1 Extinct species
- Aepyornis, Aepyornis maximus
- Moa, Dinornithiformes. Large flightless birds on New Zealand, they were probably already extinct in 1642 when Europeans landed there. The extinction of the moa and its main predator, the Harpagornis, is attributed to the arrival of human settlers around 1000 A.D. Very early European arrivals, ca 1830-40, described seeing birds that might have been the last of the moa but the sightings have never been confirmed reliably. New Zealand has no significant indigenous mammal life. The entire animal ecology consisted of birds, with the moa filling the niche of deer or cattle, and the harpagornis filling the niche of the wolf or tiger. There were ten species, among them were Slender Moa, Dinornis robustus, Great Broad-billed Moa, Euryapteryx gravis and Lesser Megalapteryx, Megalapteryx didinus.
It has been long suspected that the species of moa described as Euryapteryx curtus/E. exilis, E. huttonii/
E. crassus, and Pachyornis septentrionalis/P. mappini constituted males and females, respectively. This has been confirmed by analysis of DNA extracted from bone material for sex-specific genetic markers (Nature 425 p.175). More interestingly, the former three species of Dinornis, D. giganteus = robustus, D. novaezealandiae and D. struthioides have turned out to be males (struthioides) and females of only two species, one each formerly occurring on New Zealands North (D. novaezealandiae) and South (D. robustus) Island (in addition to the Nature paper cited above, also Nature 425 p. 172). Moa females were larger than males, up to 150% of their size and 280% of their weight. This phenomenon, reverse size dimorphism, is not uncommon amongst ratites, being most pronounced in moa and kiwis.
On a side note, the plural form of moa is also moa, as Maori words do not feature plural-s.
- King Island Emu , Dromaius ater (Australia 1850)
- Kangaroo Island Emu , Dromaius baudinianus (Australia 1827)
1.2 Ducks, geeseAnser Branta Chen Cereopsis † see also: Swan, Duck Anatidae Goose (plural geese is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes the swans, which are mostly larger than gees and swanCygnus ''Coscoroba Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae. Swans usually mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur, pas
- New Zealand Cape Barren GooseCape Barren Goose : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Anseriformes : Anatidae : Cereopsis novaehollandiae Binomial name Cereopsis novaehollandiae Latham, 1802 The Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae is a large goose resident in southern Australia., Cereopsis novaezeelandiae
- Korean Crested Shelduck, Tadorna cristata. Officially critically endangeredAn endangered species is a species whose population is so small that it is in danger of becoming extinct. Many countries have laws offering special protection to these species (forbidding hunting, banning their habitats from development, etc. to prevent t due to recent unconfirmed reports. Last confirmed record in 1964Events January January 1 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. January 3 Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President. January 5 In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Ort.
- Réunion Shelduck , Alopochen kervazoi (Mascarenes 1674)
- Mauritian Shelduck , Alopochen mauritianus (Mascarenes 1698Events January 4 Palace of Whitehall in London is destroyed by fire. June 19 Volcano of Carguarazon erupts in the Andes and causes a rain of fish August 25 Peter the Great arrives back to Moscow general Gordon has already crushed the streltsy rebellion 34)
- Amsterdam Island Duck , Anas marecula (Amsterdam Island 1800)
- Mauritian Duck , Anas theodori (Mascarenes 1710)
- Pink-headed Duck, Netta caryophyllacea. Officially critically endangered due to parts of its former range not yet being surveyed, but probably extinct. The only area in which it might reasonably still exist is Northern Myanmar due to its remoteness: the Leaf Muntjac a species of small deer, was newly described from the Putao area as late as 1998. Reports of Pink-headed Ducks continue to be received from this area, but searches have been inconclusive.
- Madagascar Pochard , Aythya innotata. Officially critically endangered, but probably extinct: only one, a semi-captive bird at Antananarivo Botanic Gardens, seen alive since 1991, this bird dying in 1992.
- Labrador Duck, Camptorhynchus labradorius. This eider-like sea duck was never very common. Although it has been hunted for food, it probably died out because of decline of mussels and shellfish due to pollution. The last one was seen at Elmira, New York, in 1878.
- Auckland Islands Merganser, Mergus australis (Auckland Islands 1902)
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