Spix's Macaw Now Extinct In The Wild; Northern White Rhino, Vaquita On The Brink
They've been on our planet for millions of years, but 2018 was the year several species officially vanished forever.
Three bird species went completely extinct this year, scientists say, two of which are songbirds from northeastern Brazil: The Cryptic Treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti) and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (Philydor novaesi), according to a recent report from the conservation group BirdLife International. According to BirdLife, the other extinct bird is Hawaii's Poo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), which has not been seen in the wild since 2004 (the same year the last captive bird died).
A disturbing trend is that mainland species are starting to go extinct, rather than island species: “Ninety percent of bird extinctions in recent centuries have been of species on islands,” said Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s chief scientist and lead author on the paper. “However, our results confirm that there is a growing wave of extinctions sweeping across the continents, driven mainly by habitat loss and degradation from unsustainable agriculture and logging," he said.
An additional species of bird – the Spix’s macaw, which was made famous in the 2011 animated movie Rio – has been declared extinct in the wild. Only a few dozen captive Spix's macaws are alive today. That species was wiped out in the wild because of deforestation and other factors such as the creation of a dam and trapping for wild trade.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/31/extinct-species-these-animals-were-lost-forever-2018/2450121002/
