Larry and Tweeters,



As pointed out by Lonnie Somer, Hal Michael, and others, there are
apparently hundreds of bird species which were driven to extinction by
humans within the last 10,000 years (i.e., since the last Ice Age), but
before 1500. Most of these extinctions took place on remote oceanic islands
before European contact, and are therefore "prehistoric". These birds are
known from subfossil remains in caves and sediments, many of which were
discovered fairly recently.



An example is the 11 species of moas in New Zealand, which are believed to
have become extinct by about 1400 AD (or only about 100 or so years after
the first human settlers, the Maoris, reached New Zealand), and the 7
species of elephant birds which inhabited Madagascar.



For a summary of bird species believed to have become extinct in the last
10,000 years or so, but prior to 1500, see the Wikipedia article on "Late
Quaternary prehistoric birds", which attempts to summarize scientific
studies on the subject. By my count, this lists about 320 species which
became extinct prior to 1500, almost all as a probable result of
interactions with non-European humans. It is becoming evident that
"primitive societies" such as the Polynesians, even though their numbers
were low, had massive impacts on native birds (many of which were
flightless).



The history of the human race has been a history of continuing extinctions
of birds, mammals, amphibians, plants, and other living things, which began
many thousands of years ago and is continuing at an ever-accelerating pace.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net







From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Larry
Schwitters
Sent: December-09-10 3:07 PM
To: Robert Cleland
Cc: Tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Re: bird extinctions



Don't know if this from BirdLife International is any help. I would be
surprised if we had wiped many species out before 1500.



http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/global_species_programme/red_
list.html


How many birds have gone extinct?


A total of 132 species are documented as having gone extinct since 1500. A
further four species are now extinct in the wild and survive only in captive
populations. Although extinctions have been better documented in birds than
any other group of organisms, these totals are likely to be underestimates
because extinction is difficult to document. A number of other species
currently categorised as Critically Endangered have probably gone extinct
too, but cannot be designated as such until we are certain. Fifteen such
species are categorised as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct
<http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/06/pe.html> ) or Critically
Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild). Thus, a total of 151 species may
have been lost in the last 500 years.

Larry Schwitters

Issaquah





On Dec 9, 2010, at 2:45 PM, Robert Cleland wrote:





A biology colleague of mine said he had been told that since 1000 AD there
have been nearly 1000 birds that have gone extinct. He didn't know the
source of this figure. Does anyone out there have a reference to such a
figure, or have strong feelings about whether it is correct? 1000 seems
high to me.

************************
Robert Cleland

Professor (Emeritus), Biology Dept. Box 355325
Univ. of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-5325
Phone (206) 543-6105; FAX (206) 685-1728

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