Bought myself book “vanished Species”. Thoroughly recommend it. Old book 1981/1989. 50% of the species in it are birds, and almost all the remainder are vertebrates. The book is large format, lavishly illustrated, and 300 pages long. It’s very readable.

For those people like me who would struggle to name even ten species that have gone extinct in historic times, this book is perfect. There are a huge number of species in here, some 500 or so, including for example 22 extinct parrot species.

The book starts with the elephant bird, which much to my surprise was alive as recently as 1700. The next entry is the Moa. Did you know that there were 15 different moa species in New Zealand when the Maoris arrived? All 15 went extinct between the year 1500 and the year 1850.

Then to the emu, two emu subspecies went extinct in 1830 and 1850. I didn’t know that!

The whole book is like this. For each vanished species there is an illustration, a description of what it looked like, how it behaved and where it lived, how it went extinct, a best estimate of when, including contemporary quotes where available.

Most of the species in the book went extinct before the start of the 20th century, but by no means all. At least two described here were driven extinct by World War II. One subspecies of deer survived for an extra hundred years after it had gone extinct elsewhere, by the timely intervention of a farmer.

The book is full of horrors as well, we all know the story of the passenger pigeon and of the buffalo. But the same happened to the Eskimo Curlew. And even in Australia there was a bounty paid for ever mammal scalp brought in in the early 20th century. I didn’t know that. Another horror story concerns the extinction of a bilby subspecies after rabbit traps proved more effective at catching bilbies than rabbits.

The book also has the comment that Australia is notorious for species coming back to life after having been thought extinct, to be declared safe, only to vanish again.

All the fish extinctions in the book are recent, probably because it’s only in the last 50 or so years that anyone has been able to fund exhaustive searches for endangered fish.

And even that 500 or so extinctions looks like the tip of the iceberg. Only species that have been scientifically described make it into the book, which eliminates very many early extinctions. There’s also a paucity of entries from South America, Europe, Asia, Indonesia, Africa, New Guinea and the Philippines.

Then to the emu, two emu subspecies went extinct in 1830 and 1850. I didn’t know that!

—-
the Tasmanian one..

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Ta Molly, what type of critter is it? do you have any pictures?

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Ta Molly, what type of critter is it? do you have any pictures?

I’m not sure that bacteria count as critters.

>That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans

Interesting read this page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Everything native to Australia was alien to the interlopers. They wanted to annihilate it all and they still do.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Everything native to Australia was alien to the interlopers. They wanted to annihilate it all and they still do.

This interloper doesn’t, and I must say I’m surprised to learn that you do.

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

It will be something very low on the food chain.

dv said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

It will be something very low on the food chain.

tofu?

ChrispenEvan said:

dv said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

It will be something very low on the food chain.

tofu?

I think he use to post here.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Everything native to Australia was alien to the interlopers. They wanted to annihilate it all and they still do.

This interloper doesn’t, and I must say I’m surprised to learn that you do.

Has this bounty supposedly on all marsupial scalps resulted in any extinction apart from the Tasmanian Tiger? I thought most of the extinctions were the unintended consequences of introducing cats, rabbits and foxes, which with hindsight were disastrous but not planned (or forseen) in the same was as a cull is to kill animals.

dv said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

It will be something very low on the food chain.

ants

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which will be the last species to go extinct on planet Earth?

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

I’ve found an old reference to 6d a scalp offered in South Australia for scalps. But that was for scalps of rabbits, not marsupials. Source
“The Sydney Stock and Station Journal (NSW : 1896 – 1924) Fri 14 Mar 1902 Page 4”
“just go to South Australia and hunt rabbits. They are the greatest pests with which a country was ever afflicted, and many fine farms have been ruined by their depredations. They breed so rapidly that extermination seems to be out of the question. The government pays a bounty of 3d. a tail and 6d. a scalp for rabbits, and regular parties are formed to hunt for them.”

Another bounty of 6d for scalps appeared here. This time for dingos, eagles and crows. Again not marsupials.
“Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1896 – 1938) Fri 9 May 1902 Page 31”
“The Moree Stock Board has decided to pay £1 per head for the scalps of native dogs, 1s. each for eaglehawks, and 6d. each for crows. No bonuses are to be paid for kangaroo rats or wild pigs”.

Ah wait, getting closer.

“ The Sydney Stock and Station Journal (NSW : 1896 – 1924) View title info Fri 9 Mar 1900”
“A New Definition of Marsupial Scalp. … Sir, — At the last meeting of the Barcoo (Queensland) Marsupial Board a most extraordinary definition of Scalps, for which bonuses would in future be paid by the Board, was adopted. The definition was that a Scalp was to mean a strip of skin from the nose to the base of the tail, both ears to be left on, and that such scalps would be paid for as follows : — Kangaroo and wallaroo 6d, wallaby 4d, kangaroo rat 2d, dingoes 10?. As the scalp involves the complete destruction of the skins, and as the bonus rates are far below the market value for marsupial skins, obviously the regulation defeats its own end.”

Going back further.
“ The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 – 1929) Sat 15 Dec 1894”
“The balance sheet showed that a total of 122,979 marsupial scalps had been paid for from the 1st of .January to the 20th of November, 1894, amounting to the sum of £1587 2s. Aramac, 11th December, 1894.”

“Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 – 1908) Tue 7 Dec 1897”
“West Moreton Marsupial Board, was in attendance at the Court.house for the purpose of receiving and giving receipts for scalps. Very few scalpers put in an appearance, this being chiefly due to the wet weather. The number of scalps received was 300, comprising 185 wallabies and paddimelons, 107 bandicoots, 7 dingoes, and 1 kangaroo. The receipts handed over represented £4 14s. 6d.”

“Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 – 1919) View title info Sat 1 Oct 1881 Page 2”
“11,788 MARSUPIAL scalps were received at the Court-house, Warwick, by the local Marsupial Board on Wednesday last, for which the sum of £249 11s 6d was paid. This is sufficient evidence that the district is not yet cleared of these pests ; and, further, we are informed that in the face of the great destruction that has been going on, plenty of work is yet left for the shooter and baiter, as the decrease in the numbers in s«me parts is only slightly noticeable.”

Hmm.

To do real damage to the environment, you have to do it deliberately and on a massive scale.

The payment of a bounty for the destruction of marsupials seems to be a specifically Queensland thing. I haven’t yest seen any reference in other states. In addition, some localities such as Dalby terminated their payment of a bounty for scalps very early (eg. after 2 years).

I tracked down this summary:

Marsupial destruction in Queensland 1877-1930

“Marsupial Destruction Acts were in force in Queensland from 1877 to 1930. The Acts were administered by District Boards which paid bonuses (bounties on presentation of scalps) and kept annual records of their activities. During that period over 27 million macropods and bandicoots, as well as dingoes and foxes (which were included under the Acts) were destroyed. The cost to Queensland was over £1,187,000 in bonuses paid by the boards.”

“In late 1877, “An Act to Facilitate and Encourage the Destruction of Marsupial Animals” was passed by the Queensland.Parliament.

In 1881, “marsupial” included kangaroo, wallaroo, wallaby and pademelon.
In 1885, kangaroo rats and dingoes were added.
In 1887, rabbits were added (until covered by a separate act).
In 1892, bandicoots were added.
In 1905, kangaroos and wallaroos were removed from the list
In 1905, the term dingoes was expanded to include feral dogs.
In 1918, foxes were added.

Roma and Aramac were the districts in operation for the longest time, 24 and 26 years respectively.

“Strychnine was commonly used to poison marsupials and dingoes (and also possums by possum trappers who took possums for the skin market). The poisoned baits were often left behind with resulting stock losses. The poison was made illegal in 1910.”

“In the period 1877 through 1906 a total of 7,835,175 wallaroos, Whiptail Wallabies and kangaroos of both species (i.e., the Red and the Eastern Grey) had been killed”

17.8 million wallabies and padimelons, 1.3 million small marsupials, 1.1 million dingoes and foxes.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

That’s an easy one. Deinococcus radiodurans.

I’d like to know more about the bounty put on all marsupial scalps in the early part of the 20th century. The bonus was sixpence. Was this a government initiative? Who was prime minister at the time? Why was the bonus offered?

Everything native to Australia was alien to the interlopers. They wanted to annihilate it all and they still do.

This interloper doesn’t, and I must say I’m surprised to learn that you do.

:) I’m not enamoured by the fact that I am descended from same interlopers nor that they haven’t learned the errors of their ways.

The sad fact is true though in that we still see Australia as a land that needs to be changed to suit those of us who make the journey here.

A bounty was paid for the tail feathers of a wedge-tailed eagle.
Their bodies were stretched out on rural fences.

roughbarked said:

A bounty was paid for the tail feathers of a wedge-tailed eagle.
Their bodies were stretched out on rural fences.

I’ve included that above for the Moree Stock Board 1902. Possibly elsewhere and at other times, I’ll look.

“The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 – 1954) Tue 23 Dec 1952 Page 2”. This bonus was opposed by Riverina districts.
“EAGLE HAWKS
Another resolution from Broken Hill stated: That all Boards in the Western Division cooperatively endeavour to induce persons to participate in the destruction of eagle hawks by offering a bonus of at least 2/- per scalp for those destroyed”

“The Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 – 1954) Fri 23 Nov 1951 Page 5”
“Longreach Shire Council this financial year has been almost expended in record bonus payments on scalps. … The progressive total for the
year is: Dingoes 79, foxes 240, eagle hawks 97, eagle hawk eggs 8, wild pigs 3318.”

But not all bad news from 1951.

“The Scone Advocate (NSW : 1887 – 1954) Wed 15 Aug 1951 Page 1”
“a notification in the Government Gazette of 6th July, 1951, providing for a close season for the whole of the State in respect to wombats and eagle hawks for a period of 12 months”

Doesn’t seem to be any mention after 1958.

“Western Herald (Bourke, NSW : 1887 – 1970) Fri 21 Feb 1958 Page 7”
“BOURKE PASTURES PROTECTION BOARD … From the Secretary Walgett
North Board giving details of bonus and amount paid for pig and fox scalps, also crows and hawks heads. After a lengthy discussion the Board
resolved that they would pay a bonus of 2/6 per scalp for pigs and 2/6 per head for eagle hawks. A certificate from the owner of the property from which the scalp or head was taken to accompany each consignment. Scalps to consist of two ears and a strip to the nose.”

The start of protection for the wedge-tailed eagle.

“The Beverley Times (WA : 1905 – 1977) Fri 24 Sep 1971 Page 2”
“One of Australia’s noblest birds, the wedge-tailed eagle – which for years ‘has been persecuted and crucified on fences throughout Australia – is gradually earning a reprieve and as from 13th April this year it became a protected bird in New South Wales. Victoria is likely to become the next State where similar legislation will come into force. Formerly the bird was only protected in the State of Tasmania. Western Australia paid a bounty on scalps until 1968 and, with Queensland, averaged 13,056 payments a year. Intensive investigation into complaints against eagles have been going on in W.A. for some time now.”

AwesomeO said:

Has this bounty supposedly on all marsupial scalps resulted in any extinction apart from the Tasmanian Tiger? I thought most of the extinctions were the unintended consequences of introducing cats, rabbits and foxes, which with hindsight were disastrous but not planned (or forseen) in the same was as a cull is to kill animals.

Many would have been not even have been described. As Moll might suggest, it can’t be extinct if we didn’t know what it was.

Introducing cats was a known as was foxes and rabbits. Do you imagine that nobody knew what these animals ate or the way they behaved in their previous lodgings?

Anyway, hacking down tne environment and replacing it with everything foreign is waging war on everything.

Mr Rumney said tourists were still visiting the reef.

“The experience is still fantastic, but tourists don’t know what they’re looking at. They don’t know what it should look like,” he said.

Futuristic..

Here’s a summary from the first 83 pages of the 300 pages of “Vanished species”. Only includes birds: ratites, doves, shore birds, raptors, parrots. In extinction date order.

Name Date Subspecies
Moa 1500
Moa 1500
Broead-billed parrot 1650
Dodo 1680
Elephant bird 1700
Reunion solitaire 1700
Mauritian barn owl 1700
Labat’s conure 1722
Guadeloupe amazon 1750
Martinique amazon 1750
Yellow-headed macaw 1765
White dodo 1770
Rodriguez solitaire 1780
Tanna dove 1800
Tahitian sandpiper 1800
Tahitian sandpiper 1800
Painted vulture 1800
Rodrigues parrot 1800
Reunion ring-necked parrot 1800
Dominion macaw 1800
Norfolk Is Pigeon 1801
Pigeon hollandaise 1826
Dwarf Emu 1830 Yes
Mascarene parrot 1840
Green and yellow macaw 1842
Great Auk 1844
Moa 1850
Moa 1850
Tasmanian Emu 1850 Yes
St Sp cormorant 1850
Commerson’s Scops owl 1850
Rodriguez little owl 1850
Black-fronted parakeet 1850
Norfolk Is Kaka 1851
Lord Howe pigeon 1853
New Calidonean lorikeet 1860
Cuban red Macaw 1864
Red-fronted parakeet 1869
Bonin night heron 1879
Ro ring-necked parrot 1880
Seychelles parakeet 1881
Comoro Scops owl 1890
Macquarie Is Parakeet 1890
Puerto Rican Conure 1892
Culebra Is amazon 1899
Bonin wood pigeon 1900
Queleli 1900
Laughing owl 1900
Laughing owl 1900
Burrowing owl 1900
Burrowing owl 1900
Ch Cr pigeon 1910
Carolina parakeet 1910 Yes
Gu storm petrel 1911
Passenger pigeon 1914
Fo Sp owlet 1914
Carolina parakeet 1914 Yes
Madagascar Serpent Eagle 1950
Eskimo Curlew 1981

The Eskimo curlew was all but wiped out by massive hunting (like the passenger pigeon) by 1900. Only occasional birds have been seen since.

The Madagascar Serpent Eagle wasn’t known to science until 1929, it disappeared due to habitat loss.

The majority of birds went extinct in the 1800s.

> During that period over 27 million macropods and bandicoots, as well as dingoes and foxes (which were included under the Acts) were destroyed.

Does that mean that in some places there are mass graves of marsupials?

If so, it would be worth while excavating some of these to learn more about Australia’s marsupials as they existed 100+ years ago.

mollwollfumble said:

> During that period over 27 million macropods and bandicoots, as well as dingoes and foxes (which were included under the Acts) were destroyed.

Does that mean that in some places there are mass graves of marsupials?

If so, it would be worth while excavating some of these to learn more about Australia’s marsupials as they existed 100+ years ago.

wouldn’t think so. usual bounty stuff was paid on tails or ears or somesuch and not the whole animal which would have been left were killed.

ChrispenEvan said:

mollwollfumble said:

> During that period over 27 million macropods and bandicoots, as well as dingoes and foxes (which were included under the Acts) were destroyed.

Does that mean that in some places there are mass graves of marsupials?

If so, it would be worth while excavating some of these to learn more about Australia’s marsupials as they existed 100+ years ago.

wouldn’t think so. usual bounty stuff was paid on tails or ears or somesuch and not the whole animal which would have been left were killed.

Yes. I’m getting the same picture. Scalps handed in were burnt to ensure that no-one would be able to hand them in twice.

So many stories about vanished species.

Here’s a trick I hadn’t thought of.

A bird species called the “White Mascarene Starling” was thought to have gone extinct in 1840. So far so good. But a reexamination in 2000 showed that the skin was that of an albino form of an extant bird.

Traps for young players.

I’ve done a complete overhaul (139 new species and subspecies minus duplicates) of the Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bird_extinctions_by_year
using data from that book “Vanished Species” by David Day.

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve done a complete overhaul (139 new species and subspecies minus duplicates) of the Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bird_extinctions_by_year
using data from that book “Vanished Species” by David Day.

How confident are you about the Mysterious Starling?

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve done a complete overhaul (139 new species and subspecies minus duplicates) of the Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bird_extinctions_by_year
using data from that book “Vanished Species” by David Day.

Thanks

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve done a complete overhaul (139 new species and subspecies minus duplicates) of the Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bird_extinctions_by_year
using data from that book “Vanished Species” by David Day.

Thanks

indeed