09-01-2014, 10:02 PM
On this day, a Century ago, the last Passenger Pigeon died.
Her name was Martha, and she left no descendants, because she was The Last Passenger Pigeon.
Passenger Pigeons weren't exactly a delicacy, they were actually once quite cheap and plentiful. Also, they had this most disturbing habit, disturbing at least at that time: Passenger Pigeons enjoyed Group Sex. Really big Groups of Group Sex. Without around a thousand enthusiastic participants, they just didn't have much... enthusiasm.
Solitary species, like Condors, can be brought back from the edge of extinction even from a few breeding pairs. Not so the gregarious Passenger Pigeons.
So between hunting, and the destruction of habitat, and a certain disapproval of their mating habits, they just lost interest.
There had been unconfirmed sightings over the years of other lonely survivors, and there is a whole "Passenger Pigeon Park" thing going on now, involving salvaged DNA and monogamous relationships, but it just won't be the same.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When there's Passenger Pigeons in the park...
Eustace
Her name was Martha, and she left no descendants, because she was The Last Passenger Pigeon.
Passenger Pigeons weren't exactly a delicacy, they were actually once quite cheap and plentiful. Also, they had this most disturbing habit, disturbing at least at that time: Passenger Pigeons enjoyed Group Sex. Really big Groups of Group Sex. Without around a thousand enthusiastic participants, they just didn't have much... enthusiasm.
Solitary species, like Condors, can be brought back from the edge of extinction even from a few breeding pairs. Not so the gregarious Passenger Pigeons.
So between hunting, and the destruction of habitat, and a certain disapproval of their mating habits, they just lost interest.
There had been unconfirmed sightings over the years of other lonely survivors, and there is a whole "Passenger Pigeon Park" thing going on now, involving salvaged DNA and monogamous relationships, but it just won't be the same.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When there's Passenger Pigeons in the park...
Eustace