Humans Not Solely To Blame For Passenger Pigeon Extinction 53
sciencehabit (1205606) writes When the last passenger pigeon died at a zoo in 1914, the species became a cautionary tale of the dramatic impact humans can have on the world. But a new study finds that the bird experienced multiple population booms and crashes over the million years before its final demise. The sensitivity of the population to natural fluctuations, the authors argue, could have been what made it so vulnerable to extinction.
Re:Regardless of any 'sensitivities'... (Score:3, Funny)
Apparently they were fairly awful creatures—flocks of a few million birds blackening the skies, decimating crops and crapping on everything.
Couldn't we direct our sympathies to a more like-able creature? Wooly mammoths or great awks, perhaps?
Maybe we eradicated them and it's actually a *good* thing. It's not quite the same as how we (as a species) are still hunting the poor ortolan
Call me insensitive, but I really hate pigeons.
Re:Regardless of any 'sensitivities'... (Score:5, Funny)
Well sed.
Re:Regardless of any 'sensitivities'... (Score:5, Funny)
Wooly mammoths? Can you imagine those beasts trampling down your fields? Because you don't think that your puny fences would keep them reined in, do you? And the shedding everywhere!
You young'uns have NO idea what the paleolithic time was like! Now get offa my steppe!