Kangaroo Island Emu
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| Dromaius baudinianus Shane A. Parker, 1984 |
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Dromaius minor |
Kangaroo Island Emu (Dromaius baudinianus) is an extinct bird, a member of the family Casuariidae. It was restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. It differed from the mainland Emu mainly in its smaller size. The species became extinct in approximately 1827 (Stattersfield et. al. 1998).
It was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders and reported to be quite common around Nepean Bay. The first bones of the species were discovered in 1903 at The Brecknells, sandhills on the west side of Cape Gantheaume. However, due to much confusion surrounding the bird's taxonomy and that of a similar species, the King Island Emu from King Island north of Tasmania, it only received its current scientific name in 1984, after a thorough revision of the extinct emus by Shane A. Parker.
The species is only known from historical observer accounts and from bones, including sets deposited at the South Australian Museum. A mounted skin at the Geneva Museum, Switzerland, sometimes claimed as a Kangaroo Island Emu, may in fact be a young mainland Emu.
The species' extinction has been attributed to hunting and habitat clearance through burning (Garnett 1993).
[edit] External links
- Species profile at the Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage website
- Species page at The Extinction Website
[edit] References
- Baxter, Chris (1995): An Annotated List of the Birds of Kangaroo Island (revised edition). South Australia National Parks and Wildlife Service. ISBN 0-7308-0677-4
- BirdLife International (2006). Dromaius baudinianus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 22 Jun 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is extinct.
- Garnett, S. (1993): Threatened and extinct birds of Australia. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union
- Parker, Shane A. (1984): The extinct Kangaroo Island emu, a hitherto unrecognised species. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 104: 19-22.
- Stattersfield, Alison J.; Crosby, Michael J.; Long, Adrian J. & Wege, David C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation. Birdlife International ISBN 0-946888-33-7
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