Extinctions and Apocalyptic Birds
Abstract As humans progressed from an age of exploration into the Industrial Revolution, birds went extinct. Explorers reaching Mauritius wiped out the dodo, probably by accident, and hunting doomed the great auk, the Carolina parakeet, and the passenger pigeon. Fashion demand for feathers nearly do...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University PressNew York
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197691878.003.0006 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58126813/oso-9780197691878-chapter-6.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract As humans progressed from an age of exploration into the Industrial Revolution, birds went extinct. Explorers reaching Mauritius wiped out the dodo, probably by accident, and hunting doomed the great auk, the Carolina parakeet, and the passenger pigeon. Fashion demand for feathers nearly doomed the ostrich and many shorebirds like egrets and gulls. Because birds eat dead humans, birds featured in biblical apocalypses and those of Mayans and Aztecs. Wars and technology of the twentieth century gave the book Silent Spring and the film The Birds terrifying power. Conservation efforts rescued two of the largest birds, the bald eagle and the condor, from extinction. |
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