Passenger pigeon

The passenger pigeon was a North American pigeon whose immense flocks once darkened skies and forests. Hunting and habitat loss drove it to extinction; the last known individual died in 1914.

Martha (passenger pigeon): The last known passenger pigeon, which died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Her death marked the species’ extinction in captivity.
Market hunting: Commercial hunting that supplies wild animals and their products to markets. Hunters killed passenger pigeons on an industrial scale for food and sale.
Columbidae: The bird family comprising pigeons and doves. The passenger pigeon was a member of this diverse family.
Passenger pigeon migration: Seasonal movements of passenger pigeons in flocks that could stretch for kilometers. Witness accounts of migrations document the scale of the species before its decline.
Extinction: The permanent loss of a species when its last individual dies. The passenger pigeon is a prominent case of extinction caused by human activity.
Habitat loss: The destruction or degradation of places where organisms live and reproduce. Clearing eastern forests reduced the nesting and feeding grounds the pigeons depended on.
Mourning dove: A slender North American pigeon known for its mournful call and widespread distribution. It is a living relative often mistaken for a surviving passenger pigeon.
Passenger pigeon nesting in Wisconsin: A major 1871 passenger pigeon nesting aggregation in central Wisconsin, covering a vast forest area. This well-documented colony shows the extraordinary density possible shortly before the collapse.
Conservation biology: The scientific study of protecting biological diversity and preventing species loss. The pigeon’s disappearance helped make preventing such collapses a public concern.
Allee effect: A decline in individual survival or reproduction as a population becomes sparse. A species adapted to enormous flocks may reproduce less successfully after its numbers collapse.

Linked from 14 pages