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Originally posted by russ212
reply to post by nixie_nox
However, if we did kill everything but the animals we need, we would only lose that beauty. I am willing to sacrifice that for the ability to eat and survive.
Originally posted by PApro
reply to post by TortoiseKweek
beat me to the puch..grr.. idk how this even got so far before someone noticed.
The Carolina Parakeet, was the only parrot species indigenous to the United States. The Carolina parakeet was an remarkably social bird, living in vast flocks. American bird hunters reported that Carolina Parakeets would return to mourn dead members of the flock, making themselves easy targets. Considered a pest, popular in the pet trade, and bearing plumes feathers valued for hats, this species was hunted to extinction around the beginning of the 1900's.
The Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It was found from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. It was the only extinct species at the time classified in genus Conuropsis.
The Carolina Parakeet died out because of a number of different threats. To make space for more agricultural land, large areas of forest were cut down, taking away its living space. The colorful feathers (green body, yellow head, and red around the bill) were in demand as decorations in ladies' hats, and the birds were kept as pets. Even though the birds bred easily in captivity, little was done by owners to increase the population of tamed birds. Finally, they were killed in large numbers because farmers considered them a pest, although many farmers valued them for controlling invasive cockleburs.
A factor that contributed to their extinction was the unfortunate flocking behavior that led them to return immediately to a location where some of the birds had just been killed. This led to even more being shot by hunters as they gathered about the wounded and dead members of the flock.
This combination of factors extirpated the species from most of its range until the early years of the 20th century. However, the last populations were not much hunted for food or feathers, nor did the farmers in rural Florida consider them a pest as the benefit of the birds' love of cockleburs clearly outweighed the minor damage they did to the small-scale garden plots. The final extinction of the species is somewhat of a mystery, but the most likely cause seems to be that the birds succumbed to poultry disease, as suggested by the rapid disappearance of the last, small, but apparently healthy and reproducing flocks of these highly social birds. If this is true, the very fact that the Carolina Parakeet was finally tolerated to roam in the vicinity of human settlements proved its undoing (Snyder & Russell, 2002).
The last wild specimen was killed in Okeechobee County in Florida in 1904, and the last captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. This was the male specimen "Incas," who died within a year of his mate "Lady Jane."
Originally posted by russ212
reply to post by nixie_nox
just want everyone to realize that while it is a tragedy that these animals are going extinct. It is much less important than the death of human. I would be less sadend by the death of all wild life than the death of a single starving child
Originally posted by Silenzio
I hope pandas make an miracle recovery. It would be shame if they went full excinct.