![]() ![]() ![]() Reverend John B Stair, in his 1987 article to the Royal Society of New Zealand, details a traditional story and often heard canoe-song about the Manumea. The Manumea in flight has been described as a distant rolling thunder through the forest. Click here to find out more about the Manumea and the conservation work by the Samoan community to save this species. It is thought that less than 200 individuals can now be found in the remote forest uplands of Upolu and Savai’i. The species is currently classified as Critically Endangered by the ICUN Red list of Threatened Species. Populations of Manumea underwent a huge crash in the 1900s likely due to invasive animal pests and loss of habitat. In the past, the Manumea was hunted as a source of food and its feathers have been used by Samoan women to decorate fine mats. ![]() There is still a lot to learn about the biology of this elusive species. Its large beak allows it to feed on fruits that smaller pigeons can’t eat. The Manumea plays an important role in the forests of Samoa by distributing the seeds as it feeds on native fruit trees, and the aerial tubers of the wild yam ( Dioscorea bulbifera). One of the closest living relatives of the extinct dodo, the scientific name for the species ( Didunculus strigirostris) means little dodo. A species of ground pigeon, the Manumea has a large head and hooked beak. The Manumea is the national bird of Samoa and is found nowhere else in the world. It wasn’t long before these birds went extinct – which it officially did in 1681.Manumea ( Didunculus strigirostris), Tooth-billed pigeon All of these animals would eat the eggs of the Dodo Bird – a bird which only laid one egg at a time. The ships bring sailors and inmates to this island often had rats and these rats would also escape to the island. Later when the island became a penal colony (an island prison) cats, dogs and monkeys were introduced to the island. In fact, what they couldn’t eat, they often preserved in salt, for storage. For one, colonists clubbed and ate quite a few of these birds. One of the facts about Dodo Birds is that its extinction was due to a number of different factors. Which probably gave rise to the notion that these birds were less than intelligent. When the settlers and their pets arrived, these birds just didn’t know they had to be afraid of them. Which is probably where the fat and lazy propaganda description came from. However, scientists do know that since these birds had no natural predators for thousands of years on the island of Mauritius, they had no need to develop defenses. Some of the information that early settlers provided about these birds were highly exaggerated and in some cases downright mean. ![]() Little else is known about how these birds look because its look is based on drawings made during the time. They took it upon themselves to give the Dodo Bird more of a plump look.ĭodo Birds were about 3 feet tall and weighed around 25 pounds. Why are they so often depicted as fat? Well, that would have a lot to do with several European artists at the time. In fact, most of these birds were generally on the thin side. However, their supposed obesity is not entirely accurate. That is how they were drawn, as fat and lazy birds that were incapable of even evading animals hunting them. Most of the images show birds that were not only large but were pretty fat. If you take a good look at most Dodo Bird pictures, then you’ll soon see an emerging pattern. And over the next few thousand years, they began to evolve until they eventually became the Dodo Bird. In this new environment, these pigeons not only survived but prospered. This is when a flock of pigeons navigated off course and ended up on a little island that is located in the Indian Ocean – just east of Madagascar. The history of the Dodo Bird can be traced all the way back to the Pleistocene Epoch – about 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago. It is also a bird that was given a bad reputation and was eventually labeled as fat, lazy and dumb – although this might not necessarily be the case. It was a bird that went extinct over 300 years ago but is still one of the first things most people think about when they think about extinctions that were caused by human beings. The Dodo Bird – also known as Raphus cucullatus – is an extinct and flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius. ![]()
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