The extinction of species

Writer: Dr Anina Lee.

David Attenborough's documentary on the rate at which species are going extinct as a result of human activity has had a big impact on viewers. Whether anyone is going to change their lifestyles as a result, remains to be seen. Extinctions often happen gradually, so that when people notice and become concerned, it's often too late. For example, when last did you find your windscreen covered in insect splat?

Here's another example, although not from our shores. Does anyone know what happened to passenger pigeons?

Passenger pigeons

The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was a North American wild pigeon species that went extinct by 1914. Ectopistes means ‘moving about or wandering’, and migratorius means ‘migrating’. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning ‘passing by’. Clearly they didn't carry passengers. But they were migratory, travelling in large flocks between the eastern parts of Canada and the south-east of the USA.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 20)