Marshall Brain's Blog

I once saw a flock of Sandhill Cranes arriving at a feeding site - awesome!!! - blzbob
 

Why did we have to kill all the cranes in the first place? Or all the buffalo? Or all the condors? Or all the Bald Eagles? Or all the passenger pigeons?

What, you've never heard o a passenger pigeon? See Passenger Pigeon: "The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon that was once probably the most common bird in the world. It is estimated that there were as many as five billion Passenger Pigeons in the United States."

"The Passenger Pigeon was extensively hunted for food, hog feed, as live targets for trap shooting and even sometimes as agricultural fertilizer, and shipped by the boxcar-load to the Eastern cities. In New York City, in 1805, a brace (pair) of pigeons sold for two cents. Slaves and servants in 18th and 19th century America often saw no other meat. Commercial hunters harvested them in huge numbers for food, and most restaurants in the Eastern United States served pigeon to customers. 3 million pigeons were shipped by a single market hunter in the year 1878. Alcohol-soaked grain intoxicated the birds and made them easier to kill. [citation needed] Smoky fires were set to nesting trees, causing the young birds to jump from their nests into hunters bags. [citation needed] All these factors greatly contributed to the Passenger Pigeon's extinction in the early 20th century."

Humans are idiots.
 

hey that new theme for your website howstuffworks.com is useless the earlier one was much better please change it it looks horrible i am serious
 

Well, its good to know that their number is growing up. I hope that the protection to all the species like this will continue up to the next generation to generation. Thanks for the share! linden method