Last time I went to the barbers I had to wait until it was my turn.There were no Men's Health magazines, (well none that I hadn't already read), so I picked up an August copy of," The New Scientist Magazine" and read about a book called, A message from Martha.
I'll definately be buying a copy.
From a review:
September 1st, 2014 sees the centenary of one of the best-documented extinctions in history—the demise of the Passenger Pigeon. From being the commonest bird on the planet 50 years earlier, the species became extinct when Martha, the last of her kind, died at the Cincinnati Zoo. This book marks the centenary of that tragic event. Built around the framework of a visit to Cincinnati and the pigeon’s former haunts in North America's east coast, by author Mark Avery, it tells the tale of the pigeon, and of Martha, and explores the largely untold story of the ecological annihilation of this part of America in the years between the end of the US Civil War and 1900—an unprecedented loss of natural beauty and richness, as the prairies were ploughed, swiftly to be replaced by a dustbowl, while the population of Bison plummeted from around 30 million to just 1,000, the victim of habitat destruction and indiscriminate slaughter.
Written engagingly and with an element of travelog as well as historical detective work, this book is more than another depressing tale of human greed and ecological stupidity. It contains an underlying message—that we need to re-forge our relationship with the natural world on which we depend, and plan a more sustainable future. Otherwise the tipping point will be crossed and more species will go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. We should listen to the message from Martha.
http://www.amazon.com/Message-Martha-Extinction-Passenger-Bloomsbury/dp/147290625X
I just finished it a few days ago, definitely recommend it.
Sad stuff, incomprehensible abundance (flocks used to block out the sun for many hours as they passed) all gone.
Good to hear zosterops. I've just placed an order with Amazon for a copy. They said at one stage they were the most numerous bird on the planet, their flocks, a mile wide and up to 300 miles long, were so dense that they darkened the sky for hours and days as the flock passed overhead. Population estimates from the 19th century were close to 5 billion birds.
Samford Valley Qld.
I understand that each species has a population tipping point where once a population has declined to a particular number or proportion of its original size it's all down hill to extinction from there.
The poor old Passenger Pigeon is a stark case in point & from which Homo sapiens seems to have learned zero. E.g., in South Australia fish stocks have been badly over-exploited so to try to aid their recovery the Government has planned a number of marine parks. Lo & behold the Opposition with support from some in the fishing industry introduced legislation to wind back these parks. Fortunately, the Opposition bill was defeated - by one vote. And the federal Government wants to review the marine park system introduced by its predecessor. Oh, dear!
Without too many spoilers the demise of the passenger pigeon was in part due to relying on safety in numbers. it nests colonially and had no other defenses against predators. when the population had been reduced to a few hundred predators could take advantage of the situation and finish the chicks off leading to continual nesting failures until there were none left. Prior to the human-influenced massive population reduction any losses from predators were negligible in breeding colonies of millions and just accepted.
This situation can be contrasted with the Chatham Islands Black Robin, which was saved from a single breeding pair to a current population of ~200 with no apparent inbreeding senescence.
Interesting reading.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/black-robin/
Samford Valley Qld.