This was one of the few areas where some forest survived logging activity. It was the rugged landscape of the south-west corner, and particularly the Black River Gorges (now a national park) that was the salvation for the nine endemic landbird species that survive. Very little native forest is left on Mauritius, where the landscape is dominated by fields of sugar cane. Common tenrec (adult on left, juvenile on right). Others are less familiar, including crab-eating macaque (a monkey), small Indian mongoose, common tenrec and house shrew (admittedly the last two are more likely competitors for invertebrate food than direct predators on birds). Some of the introduced predators are shared with New Zealand, for example feral cat, ship rat, Norway rat and feral pig. The causes of bird extinctions and declines on Mauritius are all too familiar – introduced predators, hunting and habitat loss being the main ones. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa Echo parakeet (female). Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa Pink pigeon. The pink pigeon reached a low of just 9-10 individuals (in 1980), and the echo parakeet (=Mauritius parakeet) a low of 8-12 individuals in 1987. Two other Mauritian species weren’t much better off. The Mauritius kestrel has a similar story, but went one worse – a low of only four individuals in 1974. New Zealand conservationists well know the story of the Chatham Island black robin, which reached a low of five individuals in 1978 before intensive management built up a population of about 250 birds. And the dodo is just one of eight endemic Mauritian bird species that have become extinct since the island was discovered by the Portuguese 509 years ago, while several others have come perilously close. The answer is the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the tropical Indian Ocean. But how many people know where the dodo lived? Dodo statue, Ile aux Aigrettes. One of the reasons it is so well known is that it is considered to be the first species where humanity recognised that the cause of the species’ global extinction was entirely due to humans. Its quirky appearance makes it instantly recognisable in popular culture, including in classics such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and the animated short film ‘Ice Age’. The dodo is the world’s most famous extinct bird.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |