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from the bird-brained-humans-did-them-in dept.
Four billion passenger pigeons vanished. Their large population may have been what did them in
Four billion passenger pigeons once darkened the skies of North America, but by the end of the 19th century, they were all gone. Now, a new study reveals that the birds' large numbers are ironically what did them in. The pigeons evolved quickly, but in such a way to make them more vulnerable to hunting and other threats.
[...] In 2014, Wen-San Huang, an evolutionary biologist at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei, and colleagues turned to DNA in an attempt to solve the mystery. Genetic material from four 19th century museum specimens revealed that the species had relatively low genetic diversity—meaning that most individuals were remarkably similar to each other—and that its numbers had fluctuated 1000-fold for millions of years. Hunting and habitat loss came during a time when the species was already declining, the team concluded, which pushed the birds over the edge.
But the new study lays the lion's share of the blame back on people. Beth Shapiro, a paleogenomicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and colleagues sequenced the complete genomes of two passenger pigeons, and analyzed the mitochondrial genomes—which reside in structures that power cells—of 41 individuals. The specimens came from throughout the bird's range. In addition, they reanalyzed data from Hung's group, and, for comparison, sequenced the bird's closest living relative, the band-tailed pigeon.
[...] [The] passenger pigeon's huge population is what made it vulnerable [DOI: 10.1126/science.aao0960] [DX], Shapiro's team reports today in Science. The birds were able to adapt faster to their environment—and spread these changes quickly within their population—but this also caused all of them to be fairly genetically similar. And when a new threat—like human hunters and habitat loss—came around, they suddenly found their physiology and behavior were poorly suited for their declining numbers. Their population "went from being superbig to supersmall so fast they didn't have time to adapt," in part because they lacked the diversity to cope with this new way of living, Shapiro says.
According to Wikipedia:
The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habits of the species. The scientific name also refers to its migratory characteristics.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Monday November 20 2017, @07:10PM (22 children)
Lacking genetic diversity is of course a problem, but when your species is being annihilated by a technological race of murderous, genocidal maniacs who kill for sheer fun, I'm not sure a little extra diversity would have helped much. Migratory birds are inherently going to be highly vulnerable to humans with guns; the Canadian Geese are just lucky that they weren't targeted the way the Passenger Pigeons were.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Monday November 20 2017, @07:21PM (17 children)
Oh come on. It was a food source, a delicacy packed and shipped all over the place, even to Europe.
It wasn't sport. It was commercial harvest with no state for federal regulation.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Monday November 20 2017, @07:28PM (16 children)
They weren't just killed for food, they were shot for sport, because people thought there was an unlimited supply of them.
(Score: 1) by insanumingenium on Monday November 20 2017, @08:16PM (1 child)
The fact that they wouldn't breed without a huge population present made a big difference too. Which without reading TFA I assume is what they are referring to. Even after we placed protections, the population was too far gone to breed back even with a comparatively large number of birds left. Presumably the ability to breed without a thousand friends watching was something that if they were killed off slower they could have adapted.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:14AM
I thought that was a very fucking weird thing for them to need, till I sat back and realized what human beings do with the Internet now that we have it.....
Can you imagine if we evolved that need, and the Internet disappeared forever? Sad people unable to reproduce anymore because they don't know how without teledildonics. I'm fairly certain thought that we would figure it out again. We're a horny species.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Monday November 20 2017, @08:16PM (13 children)
So you claim, but there is little sport in standing in a field shooting at high flying birds, with zero intent to eat them.
That is mostly a Mediterranean idea of sport. Not an American tradition.
http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/extent-illegal-killing-birds-mediterranean-revealed-birdlife-report [birdlife.org]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/26/conservationists-appalled-at-illegal-killing-of-25m-birds-a-year-in-the-mediterranean [theguardian.com]
That is NOT what happened to the passenger pigeons.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 20 2017, @08:38PM (7 children)
You mean... it was those pesky Mediterraneans that drove the bison into near extinction [wikipedia.org]?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 20 2017, @09:04PM (4 children)
You've got part of the story - but you've left out an important part of it. Our cynical government saw the extinction of the buffalo as a wise military move. The nomads had to go, and the only way to force them gone, was to destroy their food source. The "sportsmen" you mention, in some part at least, depended on the Army's blessing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-buffalo-killers/482349/ [theatlantic.com]
'Kill Every Buffalo You Can! Every Buffalo Dead Is an Indian Gone'
The American bison is the new U.S. national mammal, but its slaughter was once seen as a way to starve Native Americans into submission.
Eadweard Muybridge
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 20 2017, @09:31PM (2 children)
But I did show the Mediterraneans were the culprits, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 21 2017, @01:05AM (1 child)
Well, that's debatable. After all, we let the damned Greeks in, so it might be argued that it's still our fault. We knew about Trojan horses.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 21 2017, @01:27AM
That goes without sayin': Americans are always at fault. (wink-wink-grin-large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday November 21 2017, @02:30AM
Almost all buffalo hunters were paid. By the local govermnents, OR for the hide. It was more than sport.
And the Army's involvement was not what some would have you believe. General Sherman suggested he wanted to eradicate the buffalo, however "While there is ample evidence that this belief was shared by some of the army leadership ... there is little evidence that it was directly acted upon in any significant way." See. [wikipedia.org]
Hunting for meat was less important than hides, because refrigeration was a serious problem.
Some was salted and shipped east.
Wiki says:
The species' dramatic decline was the result of habitat loss due to the expansion of ranching and farming in western North America, industrial-scale hunting practised by non-indigenous hunters, increased indigenous hunting pressure due to non-indigenous demand for bison hides and meat, and even cases of deliberate policy by settler governments to destroy the food source of the native Indian peoples during times of conflict.
It was dirty stinky work. It was never for sport until the large herds had been mostly wiped out. Some States hold sport hunts now, but getting a license is difficult because herd management is strictly practiced.
(Of course the indians would drive entire herds over a cliff (google buffalo jump) just to harvest the tongues, so stupidity ran rampant all around).
There seems to be a lot of historical revisionism going on here today.
But one thing is for certain:
The Mediterranean song bird shoots continue to this day.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:02AM
You mean … bisons are high-flying birds?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:43AM
Yeah, I'm sure you are right that the "high flying birds" he mentioned were bisons...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Monday November 20 2017, @10:36PM (4 children)
From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
In addition, they were exterminated in places because they ate crops:
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday November 21 2017, @02:39AM (3 children)
Would we feel bad if the starling was wiped out?
Some birds are downright pests. [scarafaggio.info]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday November 21 2017, @01:39PM (2 children)
Wiped out in North America, or worldwide? As long as a species is doing fine in its native habitat, I don't see much of a problem with wiping it out in places where it's not native, and is actually an invasive species causing problems for the native species there.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Tuesday November 21 2017, @06:33PM (1 child)
Why must the world stay the same? Invasion, advantage, extinction is what evolution is all about. Being able to adapt and take advantage of humans for expansion is an evolutionary advantage, and we don't have to keep things in stasis from an arbitrary date.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday November 27 2017, @03:49PM
1) Biodiversity is important for a healthy ecosystem
2) The only animals that are really good at adapting to and taking advantage of humans are rats, mice, deer, pigeons, and maybe feral cats. You really want to live in a world with only those animals running wild?
Evolution works over long timescales. Humans introducing invasive species works on a timescale much shorter than native species can adapt, so they die out, and we're left with rats and pigeons and kudzu.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @07:23PM
Yes, the headline should probably reflect that even in the summary, shotgun diplomacy with our avian friends was what killed them off.
"...the new study lays the lion's share of the blame back on people."
One cannot blame the success for something as its reason for downfall when they were fine for tens of thousands of years before an advanced sport hunter arrived with shotguns.
To be honest, I can't think of any humans that have evolved a shotgun pellet repellant that would prevent the same problem from causing the downfall of my species, too, should armed invaders come and decide to start shooting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @07:46PM (1 child)
Canada Geese not Canadian Geese.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 20 2017, @09:06PM
Best check their papers - they may have Canadian citizenship. Damned Canuck terrorists!
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday November 20 2017, @10:02PM
I used to hear they were not easy to cook or didn't taste good but after a little research it appears to be the opposite. So long as it's a young, winter goose (fattened up for the migration), it's an easy roast and delish.