A group of scientists declared amidst a commotion the first extinction of a European bird. It is a species that inhabited the continent and the Mediterranean region.
It is the slender-billed curlew, a migratory shorebird species that bred in Western Siberia and spent winters in the Mediterranean. So far, as reported, it would be the first known bird species to become extinct in the region, along with northern Africa and Western Asia.
Extinction of a European bird: the report
On Monday, scientists from the RSPB, BirdLife International, the Naturalis Biodiversity Center of the Netherlands, and the Natural History Museum published a detailed analysis on the conservation status of this bird.
The slender-billed curlew.
Researchers determined that the last confirmed sighting of the slender-billed curlew occurred in February 1995 in Morocco and concluded that the species is globally extinct.
However, the slender-billed curlew has not yet been included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List (IUCN), the organization responsible for officially declaring species extinct.
Conservation groups stated that efforts made over decades to find evidence of the bird’s presence in its breeding and migration area failed.
For the study, published in the IBIS journal, researchers used a statistical analysis of the threats faced by the species. They also included a database of records that included museum specimens and sightings.
According to the findings, it was determined that there was a 99.6% probability that the bird no longer existed and had become extinct at the time of the last record, two decades ago.
“Devastating news”
Nicola Crockford, RSPB’s policy officer, described the news as one of the most devastating in nature conservation in a century. “It hits the heart,” she expressed.
She also explained that this extinction reflects a collective failure, especially in wealthy countries. “How can we ask other countries to protect their species if we, with greater resources, have failed?” she added.
The extinction of the slender-billed curlew.
For Crockford, this loss represents a devastating blow. “Extinction is irreversible,” she stated. Additionally, she highlighted that this underscores the urgency to protect the Eurasian curlew, the eastern curlew, and other endangered migratory shorebirds to prevent them from suffering the same fate as the slender-billed curlew.
Graeme Buchanan, RSPB’s international conservation science manager, explained that declaring a species extinct is a process that is not taken lightly. “Before declaring a species extinct on its Red List, the IUCN requires a comprehensive assessment of its situation,” he stated.
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