I was watching a programme on TV the other night,about a bird called the passenger pigeon,in the 19th century this was the most common bird in the united states,its numbers were believed to be about 5 billion,and it would fly in flocks of hundreds of millions blackening the skys with their numbers as they flew across. A single flock could take several days to pass over you.
A bird of so many numbers surely couldnt become extinct ,could they? Well that is what happened to the passenger pigeon,in the space of just over a hundred years it went from 5 billion birds ,to one,the last one named martha died in 1914.
How did this happen? the simple answer is over hunting, (although other factors like deforestation also had an effect) ,their meat was a cheap food source in the 19th century. The reason that they were so easily hunted was that ,all the hunters had to do was tie a passenger pigeon to a stool (this is where the phrase stool pigeon originated from) ,the pigeon would cry out and all the rest of the flock would fly to its calls,making them sitting ducks for the gunmen,and they would keep on coming and coming until the gunmen ran of of ammunition.
So a species as many in number as there are people on the planet was wiped out in just over 100 years.
Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo.
Last edited by corridor_writers on Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
| corridor_writers wrote: |
Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
With the significant exception that the American Bison is not extinct. It is not even an endangered species. Fortunately immediate action in the 19th Century prevented that from happening.
On a side note, their meat is leaner than chicken. 
Respectfully,
Minteresting story.. I m happy there are some institutions today that try to prevent things like that to happen today..
| corridor_writers wrote: |
Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
And for the salmon. Of course, the extermination of both the buffalo and the salmon was motivated in part by desire for genocide. Native Americans ate buffalo and salmon as staple foods, so to eradicate the Native Americans, whites implemented a deliberate policy of eliminating their food sources. Way to kill two birds with one stone! (Or a buffalo and an Injun with one bullet!)
Scrub | scrub wrote: |
| corridor_writers wrote: | Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
And for the salmon. Of course, the extermination of both the buffalo and the salmon was motivated in part by desire for genocide. Native Americans ate buffalo and salmon as staple foods, so to eradicate the Native Americans, whites implemented a deliberate policy of eliminating their food sources. Way to kill two birds with one stone! (Or a buffalo and an Injun with one bullet!)
Scrub |
Is it me, or don't I still eat buffalo and salmon? | Moonspider wrote: |
| scrub wrote: | | corridor_writers wrote: | Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
And for the salmon. Of course, the extermination of both the buffalo and the salmon was motivated in part by desire for genocide. Native Americans ate buffalo and salmon as staple foods, so to eradicate the Native Americans, whites implemented a deliberate policy of eliminating their food sources. Way to kill two birds with one stone! (Or a buffalo and an Injun with one bullet!)
Scrub |
Is it me, or don't I still eat buffalo and salmon? |
Yes, you are correct. All three stories started out the same (mass quantaties hunted to the brink of extinction) but only the carrier pigeon ended with complete extinction. It is a small consolation that the American people "pulled their heads out" and took steps to save the Salmon and Bison before they befell a similar fate.Was talking about this in class the other day.
Americans !!!
| corridor_writers wrote: |
Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
| amicalindia wrote: |
Americans !!!
| corridor_writers wrote: | Pigeons and Buffalo
A similar story could be told of the north American buffalo. |
|
Um....I am not sure what you are implying.....but you should not assume my nationality. I think you will find yourself mistaken. 
I never realized just how many of those birds used to exist. Luckily salmon weren't hunted to extinction, they're delicious!
Does anybody know the fate of the dodo bird? I heard that they were even easier to hunt, and tasted good too.
Along with the blanket in the sky, there was a blanket on the ground. Of poop. Bird poop. Inches thick. It was likely no accident that those birds were eradicated.
| Billy Hill wrote: |
| Along with the blanket in the sky, there was a blanket on the ground. Of poop. Bird poop. Inches thick. It was likely no accident that those birds were eradicated. |
Hence the invention of the wide-rimmed hat? Wasn't the passenger pigeon used to send messages in WWII? The Japanese were able to decode our radio messages so we resorted to pigeons! Don't you think that it is mean to overhunt such a helpful bird to extinction? I do.
| polygon wrote: |
| Wasn't the passenger pigeon used to send messages in WWII? The Japanese were able to decode our radio messages so we resorted to pigeons! Don't you think that it is mean to overhunt such a helpful bird to extinction? I do. |
The last passenger pigeon died in 1914,25 years before the outbreak of WW2.
I think you may be referring to carrier pigeons.Well, that's 'Survival of the Fittest' for you.
