Martha, the last passenger pigeon

I had read about the extinction of passenger pigeons that ran in billions. I wanted to archive the attached I came across today. Vahe H Apelian

September 1 at 4:45 PM

On this date in history (September 1, 1914), a creature named Martha drew her last breath, and an entire species vanished from the face of the Earth. 🕊️

Martha was the last known passenger pigeon, a bird that once numbered in the billions and darkened the skies of North America for days as their flocks passed overhead.

Their flocks were so immense that early accounts described them as living rivers in the sky, a mile wide and hundreds of miles long, containing billions of birds.

In just a few short decades, their population went from being the most numerous bird on the continent to complete extinction. 

This catastrophic decline was a direct result of relentless overhunting and widespread habitat destruction throughout the 19th century.

They were hunted for cheap meat, for sport, and as agricultural pests. The commercial scale of the hunting was something we can hardly comprehend today.

By the early 1900s, only a small captive flock remained. One by one, they passed away until only Martha was left, living out her final years at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Her death at approximately 1 p.m. on that September day was a quiet, solemn moment that marked a tragic milestone in history. 😢

It served as a powerful and sobering lesson on how quickly a species, no matter how abundant, can be lost forever due to human actions.

Martha's body was carefully preserved, and she remains on display at the Smithsonian Institution as a permanent reminder of her lost species.

Sources: Smithsonian Institution, Cincinnati Zoo Archives, Conservation Histories