hello everyone,

it's almost 100 years since the passenger pigeon went extinct, which was
when marthe died in captivity in a zoo. but how did this iconic bird go
from an estimated population of somewhere between 3 and 5 BILLION to ZERO
in less than 50 years?

i just published a piece that explains a hot-off-the-presses research
project that looked into the reason(s) why the passenger pigeon went
extinct. this paper presents evidence for a life history trait never before
documented in any bird -- a trait that also supports a novel explanation
for the passenger pigeon's extinction:

http://gu.com/p/3q5th/tw

or you can follow the long URL:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist/2014/jun/16/passenger-pigeon-extinction-population-fluctuations-human-exploitation

cheers,

--
GrrlScientist
Devorah Bennu, PhD
birdologist at gmail.com
http://about.me/grrlscientist <http://gplus.to/grrlscientist>
http://www.grrlscientist.net/
http://twitter.com/GrrlScientist
http://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/grrlscientist>
*sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt. [*Virgil, *Aeneid*, 1.461
ff.]
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