Martha (passenger pigeon)
Martha (died September 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo) was the last known living passenger pigeon; she was named "Martha" in honor of Martha Washington.
In 1857 an attempt was made to put the passenger pigeons of Ohio under legal protection. The state senate was however of the opinion that the passenger pigeon was not threatened with extinction.[1][2] Thus the passenger pigeon was hunted until 1914 when Martha was the last living specimen of the species.[2]
By the turn of the 19th century, the last group of passenger pigeons, all descended from the same pair, was kept by Professor Charles O. Whitman at the University of Chicago.[3] The last attempt to breed the remaining specimens was done by Whitman and the Cincinatti Zoo, which included attempts at making a rock dove foster passenger pigeon eggs.[4] Whitman sent Martha, which was to be the last known specimen, to Cincinatti Zoo in 1902.[5] By 1908, Martha and two males were the only passenger pigeons left after a young Ohio boy shot the last wild passenger pigeon in March 1900, and four captive males in Milwaukee died during the winter. One of the Cincinnati males died in 1909, followed by the remaining male in 1910. Martha herself died at 1 p.m. on September 1, 1914.[6]
After her death at the age of 29 Martha was frozen and sent to the Smithsonian, where she was stuffed and exhibited. From the 1920s through the early 1950s she was displayed in the Bird Hall.[7] She was then part of the Birds of the World exhibit from 1956 to 1999. During this time she left the Smithsonian twice—in 1966 to be displayed at the San Diego Zoological Society’s Golden Jubilee Conservation Conference, and in 1974 to the Cincinnati zoo for the dedication of the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. Martha is now no longer on public display at the Smithsonian.[8]
John Herald, a bluegrass singer, wrote a song dedicated to Martha, entitled Martha: Last of the passenger pigeons. The song tells the story about the Passenger Pigeons extinction and Martha's life in her cage in Cincinnati Zoo.[9][8][10][11]
[edit] References
- ^ Hornaday, William T. (1913). Our Vanishing Wild Life. Its Extermination and Preservation. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13249/13249-h/13249-h.htm. Retrieved February 29, 2012. at Project Gutenberg.
- ^ a b "Endangered Species Handbook" (pdf). Animal Welfare Institute. 1983. http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/dinos_eastern.php. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
- ^ Rothschild, Walter (1907). Extinct Birds. London: Hutchinson & Co. p. 172. http://www.archive.org/download/extinctbirdsatte00roth/extinctbirdsatte00roth.pdf.
- ^ d'Elia, J. (2010). "Evolution of Avian Conservation Breeding with Insights for Addressing the Current Extinction Crisis". Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 1 (2): 189–210. doi:10.3996/062010-JFWM-017.
- ^ Patterns of behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology, R. W. Burkhardt 2005
- ^ "In 50 Years Passenger Pigeons Went From Billions To A Lone Bird, Martha". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1090575/1/index.htm. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ Hahn, P. (1963). Where is that Vanished Bird? An Index to the Known Specimens of the Extinct and Near Extinct North American Species. Royal Ontario Museum.
- ^ a b ""Martha," The Last Passenger Pigeon". Smithsonian Institution. http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/featured_objects/martha2.html. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
- ^ Herald, John. "(Martha, last of the) Passenger Pigeons, lyrics and music". Official John Herald website. http://johnherald.com/demos.shtml. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
- ^ "Passenger Pigeon". si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. March 2001. http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/passpig.htm. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ "Martha, the World's Last Passenger Pigeon". smithsonianmag.com. Smithsonian Magazine. September 1, 2011. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/09/martha-the-worlds-last-passenger-pigeon/. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
