"Extinct" Bird Seen, Eaten

"Extinct" Bird Seen, Eaten

news.nationalgeographic.com

February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List—was extinct.

A TV crew documented the live bird in the market (above) before it was sold in January, according to the Agence France-Press news agency.

Michael Lu, president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, told AFP the bird's demise should inspire a "local consciousness" about the region's threatened wildlife.

"What if this was the last of its species?" Lu said.

However, the buttonquail is from a "notoriously cryptic and unobtrusive family of birds," according to the nonprofit Birdlife International, so the species may survive undetected in other regions.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 20-2-2009 by grover]

SIGH!!!

While the odds are that there are more of them the story highlights an international problem... bush meat. Wild, often endangered animals being hunted and butchered for the market in improverished areas... add to this the insane slaughter of endangered animals like the Rhino for example because its horn is considered an aphrodisiac... not to mention the loss of habitats and it starts becoming clear the difficulties in saving our wildlife.

For each species lost the web of life becomes one strand weaker and we are the ones who become poorer for it.

news.nationalgeographic.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by grover


Species go extinct all the time and have since life began. As I remember the celeocanth was being sold in a fish market when it was first seen.

But surely if species go extinct all the time, its time for people to wake up and preserve the other creatures that inhabit this earth?. Its a sad fact, but the way human's hold no regard for the other animal's of this earth will only lead to a loss of amazing beast's which our children and their children will never know of except in photograph's and such things .

reply to post by pteridine


People have murdered each other since the dawn of history, too.

Not a one-line post.

Unfortunate that the quail was on an island. Not much opportunity to migrate across open water. The quail on the desert, Gambols, mainly, take to flight when inspired to do so, but for very short distances. Really, have no idea how far they could sustain flight, either.

Some mighty tasty eating, though...

reply to post by grover


What if an animal would have eaten it? Animals eat and get eaten. Its as natural as you can get. Same goes for species going extinct.

Wow, we really are a mundane species aren't we?

What's the first thing we think of when we find a species we've been searching for over a very long time, and assumed it might be extinct?
... let's eat it.


It's rare that I facepalm when reading articles on the net...
... but for this one, I facepalmed.

What amazes me is the so what attitude some have expressed. Yes animals become extinct all the time and they get eaten... but I bet you would be singing a different tune if some hunter went out and shot the last bald eagle.

Truly sad, but it certainly won't be the last.

reply to post by HewhoKnows


Extinction is part of evolution. It has little to do with man as most species that went extinct did so before man walked the planet. Preservation of a species just to "save it" might not be a good idea.
It's probably a good thing that big dinosaurs disappeared and small ones evolved into birds, such as .....quail.

Maybe Kentucky Fried could do a new line in 'Last of it's Kind'.

"Unique flavor" takes on a whole new meaning...

reply to post by grover

February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Grover - I have to admit that when I read this first line - I laughed out loud

just because - the absurdity

regardless of how I really feel about the situation - I laughed because - doesn't it just figure?

this doesn't really surprise me though - I don't know anything about this particular type of quail - but most people can't tell one quail from another - especially if they''re not holding it in their hand - so it's not really surprising it would end up as food

but I absolutely understand what you're saying - I've been following the claims of recent sightings of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker for a while - seems possible to me - and many others - that they really are still out there

but I just know on some level - the first person to show up with conclusive evidence is not going to be someone with a camera - some one is going to hand it over in a bag

Originally posted by grover
What amazes me is the so what attitude some have expressed. Yes animals become extinct all the time and they get eaten... but I bet you would be singing a different tune if some hunter went out and shot the last bald eagle.

Grover,
This isn't the last bird on earth. It's a odd species of quail that no one missed because they already thought that it was extinct. There are probably more hiding in the weeds that will be discovered and preserved in a zoo if the local government so wishes.
Someone shooting the last bald eagle would be an unfortunate event but, surprisingly, bald eagles have little effect on everyday life.

Grover, I'm apologizing for this ahead of time ...maybe they're extinct because they're so tasty...ok, got that out of the way, like a fart, sorry...

Serious now. Yes, food for a growing human population. One theory of why horrific tropical diseases spread was hunters starting to go further into forests, coming into contact with infected animals.

As a kid I always regretted not having been able to see a carrier pigeon. Hey, my state flag has on it an animal (California grizzly) that became extinct in 1922, the last one felled by a hunter. That's always been an embarrassment to me.
Having seen the California condor in flight, one would not want to see this magnificent bird fall prey to extinction due to human activity.

If we end up taking animals out of the wild or the wild out of animals, eventually we'll have every beast at the level of a cow. I think the movie, Idiocracy, said much the same for humans.

Originally posted by pteridine

Someone shooting the last bald eagle would be an unfortunate event but, surprisingly, bald eagles have little effect on everyday life.

You are not seeing the big picture but your limited view.

We have a population of six billion, we have the technology and intellect to do serious damage to this world. It doesn't matter what extinction events happened in the past we must be the shepherds not the butchers.

At what point do we draw the line? It is hard to tell when we extinct the perfect link in the earths life cycle and the entire chain falls apart.

Sure the earth will survive and see new species. What we are protecting is not the earth but ourselves and our time. Given a few hundred more years and we could ensure our long term survival no matter what happens. We need to make it that far first.

Wake up and see the bigger picture. Think deeply instead of reacting.

Originally posted by LoneGunMan

Originally posted by pteridine

Someone shooting the last bald eagle would be an unfortunate event but, surprisingly, bald eagles have little effect on everyday life.

You are not seeing the big picture but your limited view.

We have a population of six billion, we have the technology and intellect to do serious damage to this world. It doesn't matter what extinction events happened in the past we must be the shepherds not the butchers.

At what point do we draw the line? It is hard to tell when we extinct the perfect link in the earths life cycle and the entire chain falls apart.

Sure the earth will survive and see new species. What we are protecting is not the earth but ourselves and our time. Given a few hundred more years and we could ensure our long term survival no matter what happens. We need to make it that far first.

Wake up and see the bigger picture. Think deeply instead of reacting.

I am not suggesting that we "extinct the perfect link in the earth's life cycle"(sic), whatever that may be. I am saying that regardless of our intentions, some species will become extinct. People will eat them or drought will claim them. How have we survived without trilobites?

When we artificially save a species, for whatever reason, what are the unintended consequences? Will the species we save prevent another from developing? Will survival of the fittest mean survival of those we think are about to become extinct? How many species will you save and at what evolutionary cost?

To quote a famous evolutionist, "Wake up and see the bigger picture. Think deeply instead of reacting."

Originally posted by pteridine


When we artificially save a species, for whatever reason, what are the unintended consequences? Will the species we save prevent another from developing? Will survival of the fittest mean survival of those we think are about to become extinct? How many species will you save and at what evolutionary cost?

To quote a famous evolutionist, "Wake up and see the bigger picture. Think deeply instead of reacting."

When we artificially kill them for whatever reason what are the consequences that is the question. Survival of the fittest is not in the equation when it comes to mankind. We have the ability to kill it all.

All of it. This is not survival of the fittest. The corporate mindthink and dominionisit points of view are excuses to rape it all and say oh little ole mankind cant effect it. We do effect it. I am not talking about getting in the way of nature I am talking about stop going to war on nature.

WTF run amuk.

I wonder if it taste like chicken...... j/k

You can hold a tribal marketer responsible for selling this bird. He probably thinks this is a common bird and knows where to find and trap them. the scientist should be following up with him on where to go and study these birds and to buy a few off of hi, for research and to bring in to captivity and to try to raise them back from extinction.

Er... They filmed it while it was still alive. If it's a rare species, why didn't they purchase it?
Or something at least. Over all, I'm glad it wasn't just stuffed and mounted, that at least it was sold for a use, instead of decoration.
Creature ar efound this way. The okapi was found because local tribes had it's hide on display. Scientists first thought it was hoax by the locals until they found a live on.