The Story of the Greatest Man-Made Extinction
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- Опубліковано 21 кві 2022
- Holocene Extinction Episode 1: The Passenger Pigeons
The passenger pigeon was arguably the most abundant wild bird on the planet, with a migrating flock capable of reaching billions of individuals. Despite their great number, the pigeons went extinct in a brief century, after being subjected to human activities of the European colony.
The passenger pigeons were killed in massive hunts, in a series of events that can be considered as one of the most destructive acts of predation towards a species. The seemingly endless wall of flying birds started to crumble in 1890 and the whole passenger pigeon population collapsed a decade after. The hundred-year-long genocidal hunts ultimately came to an end, as the most senseless and most colossal man-made extinction was written in history.
Sources:
[1] www.biologicaldiversity.org/s...
[2] www.si.edu/spotlight/passenge...
[3] www.biodiversitylibrary.org/p...
[4] www.gutenberg.org/files/13249/...
[5] Schorger, A. W. (1955). The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
[6] www.jstor.org/stable/4071161?...
[7] www.researchgate.net/publicat...
[8] www.aar.org/chronology-of-ame...
[9] Fuller, E. (2014). The Passenger Pigeon. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
[10] www.theodorerooseveltcenter.o...
[11] timesmachine.nytimes.com/time...
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#pigeon #extinction #passengerpigeon
The extinction of the passenger pigeon in the wild inspired the passage of several protection laws, the public interest in the importance of species conservation laws started to arise.
Some of them include: the Lacey Act (passed in 1900), the Weeks-McLean Law (passed in 1913 - replaced by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918), and the Endangered Species Act (passed in 1973).
Although the passenger pigeon isn’t the only reason for the passage of these laws, their disappearance did motivate the federal government to take action, and the subsequent strong conservation laws that were passed managed to prevent other species from meeting a similar fate.
From this you could say the "sacrifice" of this species wasn't for nothing.
But it was unnecessary nonetheless.
Yes. Ideally, it shouldn't take something as bad as an extinction to make us stop destroying the species, but we were ignorant. The good thing is, in this case, we learnt our lesson.
@@FactorTrace humans tend to not change there ways until it’s too late…..
Fun fact: Martha shared her cage with Incas, the endling of the Carolina parakeet
Thank you for your detailed history video. As child lived in Ohio for few years, I recall the story about 'Martha' the last passenger pigeon in Ohio. Too sad, many obstacles today for birds the 'lime sticks' in Europe to catch/eat songbirds on sticky glue on trees, luring them with recorded bird songs, and USA Glass buildings. A Freind & I rescue songbirds that hit the glass skyscrapers in Newark NJ, Most that hit the skyscrapers perish on impact, or when fall to the cement pavement. TRT made a video named 'Window Strikes in the Business District' of us picking up injured Warblers. The Raptor Trust(TRT) nurses them back to health. Wish recorded bird-song apps were outlawed as bad people are hurting birds using the app on cell phone !
You're welcome! And I wish you good luck on the efforts you and your friend are doing to save the birds! I'm grateful to know there are good people doing good work to save nature and animals. :)
Americans (both US and Canadian) had barely any idea of conservation - once Europeans arrived, it was pretty much take take take. While those nations are now very much leaders in conservation, in other parts of the world, similar extinctions are now taking place. Locals have no or vague idea about "extinction" nor the sad tale of the passenger pigeon. And they understandably scoff when we tell them to conserve their resources. Most of the world's most imperiled wildlife is in countries with exploding populations, with hungry mouths to feed, just like our not-so-distant ancestors here in N. America. The decimation is seemingly unstoppable, and certainly final. Biodiversity is what we humans will need in order to explore the Universe and expand. Earth is our "ark" until we establish something else (if ever).
Yes, it is true. That's why educating the general public about the biodiversity crisis is important. Most people are ignorant because they don't understand the stake we're facing.
I no more want humans to expand from planet Earth than I want a deadly disease to spread to new populations. Our species’ carnage and destruction needs to be contained, limited. If there is sentient* life on other planets, the arrival of humans would be the worst thing to ever happen to them.
*Sentient doesn’t necessarily mean technological or even human-level intelligent. A beetle is sentient. Any living being capable of being aware and having goals / desires and the ability to feel joy / pain is sentient.
@@FactorTraceMost people simply don’t care. They see themselves as superior to other life forms (due to popular social and religious belief), and this reduces their empathy for non-human beings. The average person sees an animal (who isn’t a human, dog, or cat) the same way they see a table or a piece of metal-a lifeless thing they can exploit for profit.
Education won’t change this. It’s fundamentally about values.
Yep , humans need to think collectively, we are all in the shit and together is the only way out.
Great content, as always. I actually hate how humans drive animals to extinction. If it weren't us, we would still have dodo, tasmanian tiger, steller's cow and passenger pigeon around.
Also, I have a suggestion for the next video. You can tell about amphicelioas and if it was real or not. That would be cool I think.
Exactly Serega! We've lost many beautiful animals, this Holocene Extinction series is dedicated to tell the stories of the iconic extinct animals, the passenger pigeon makes the first episode, some of the animals you named will be featured in the next ones.
And Thanks for the suggestion, it's very much appreciated! Amphicelioas, I'll look into it in the future.
Wow, they really pull out all the stops to be able to hunt them
Not only the native people but also the birds especially reinforced by Christian belief that extinctions cannot happen and that animals exist for the use of humans.
Great video as always !
Thanks Past Eons! Your comment means a lot!
Amazing video as usual, please keep making these videos, you have my full support!
Thank you! Will do!
wow man! such a great work, you deserve more subs for all the visuals and good explanation.
Much appreciated! Thank you
What a well done video, you deserve more subs. Ive been fascinated with the Passenger Pigeon since I was younger, and I am currently reading the book A Feathered River Across the Sky, which chronicles their extinction.
Thanks! The passenger pigeon needs more recognition, its tragic extinction story showed us that natural resources are not unlimited.
And yes, A Feathered River Across the Sky by Joel Greenberg, I used a few parts from that book as a reference for the video as well! :D
HOLY SHIT WHY DID I MISS THIS VIDEO! I gotta watch it Presto! I Guess it's the catch to using less social media xD
I hate humanity.
Yeah, unfortunately we humans make mistakes. But what matters is our effort to fix them. We should only hate ourselves if we don't do anything to fix our mistakes.
I agree cant wait when a virus to which there is no cure wipe every single being in the planet including yours truly.
then and only then no other animal will become extinct.
wait'll they turn their eye onto humanity. It's coming, if not already here
3:24 1970s should be 1870s
5:12 1980s should be 1890s
You are right, thank you for the correction!
😢 It's too late 😭
Wait do you draw this yourself or coumition it
Hello, I draw most of the graphics in my videos myself. Some elements that I collected online are credited in the description. : )
@@FactorTrace man that’s amazing I do art myself but you are way better then me man
they were so easy to hunt, literally just hold a shotgun at the sky and then boom you've got breakfast lunch and dinner for a week
Yeah it's true, bestuan. But if a single shotgun blast could feed a person for a week, then they were not supposed to disappear that quickly. The fact that their market value dropped dramatically is a sign that they were hunted beyond what was needed. They fell victim to overhunting when their population was on natural decline.
Or you can grow some vegetables, not kill any conscious beings and still eat for a week.
Wait a second, was the passigoner pigeon the most common bird on earth?
It was the most abundant bird, yes. They accounted for 1/3 of the number of wild bird individuals.
@@FactorTrace *I'm scared for life*
@@FactorTrace It's estimated that there are about 50 billion wild birds nowadays. And I doubt that this number drastically increased in the last century. So it seems unlikely that passanger pigeon made 1/3 of all birds in the world. Maybe in America?
北美旅鴿應該是沒有滅絕，有種說法是殘餘的旅鴿大概集中在Ozark山裡，另外南歐、北非、中國大陸也有旅鴿的目擊紀錄，但數量極少，難得一見。
Unfortunately, the passenger pigeon IS extinct. I'm specifically talking about the passenger pigeon, not other species of migrating pigeons. Their natural range is limited within North America and cannot be found anywhere else in the world,
Avid bird watchers recognise this pigeon, and I doubt anyone has ever seen them alive. Aside from the fact that they need huge numbers of individuals in a population to survive, sightings will probably create big news, as this bird has been believed to be extinct since the 19th century.
@@FactorTrace
Thank you very much
黑枕雉鴿、百慕達海燕、象牙喙啄木鳥是3種官方宣布滅絕後又再重現的鳥類。其中黑枕雉鴿消失約150年左右，百慕達海燕更是消失超過300年。期待有朝一日旅鴿會再出現在世界上。
Yes, it would be a spectacle like no other to see an endless flock of pigeons. The passenger pigeon has been included in the selection of candidates for de-extinction projects, people plan to bring them back through genetic engineering. But as I know it, the project for the passenger pigeon hasn't started yet. If you're interested, I made a video about de-extinction, you can watch it here ua-cam.com/video/KW8w-Au2peQ/v-deo.html
谢谢你回来!
看了網路資料發現：一直在保護旅鴿的Charles Otis Whitman教授於1910年離世，最後的旅鴿Martha於1914年離世，Martha竟比Whitman教授多活了4年。
5:14 1980s? You mean 1880s?
it was a deliberate genocide of their species, however the Americans
admit to this shame, not one American denied they are not extinct.
unlike tasmania who refuses to admit the tyhacine or tasmania tiger is extinct.
We still have them in NE region of india.
Passenger pigeon's natural range was in North America, specifically Eastern US and Canada. I doubt there can be any passenger pigeons as far as in India. I think you misidentified a different species of pigeon there.
Unpopular opinion: extinction caused by Americans and their 2nd ammendment
Do you use an ai to voice your videos? Because whenever you say Europeans it is pronounced like "you-rope-ians" and not "jew-ro-pee-ans"
Nope. I don't use any AI of any forms in my videos. I'm not a native speaker, so my pronunciation might not be perfect.
Their fault really. Should've been more clever. Look at rats. They ain't extinct.