Mauritius goose
| Mauritius goose | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Alopochen mauritianus | ||||||||||||
| ( Newton & Gadow , 1893) |
The Mauritius goose ( Alopochen mauritianus ) is an extinct species of goose from Mauritius .
description
The Mauritius goose was closely related to the Egyptian goose . It is only known from two Carpometacarpus bones found in Mare aux Songes in 1889 and ancient travelogues from the 17th and 18th centuries. It was about the size of a Brent goose . Their external appearance is unknown, but the Japanese ornithologist Masauji Hachisuka quoted the traveler John Marshall in his book The Dodo and the Kindred Birds in 1953 , who in 1668 in his Memorandum concerning India mentioned geese in Mauritius with the wing tips and the anterior half of the wing were black. It was previously thought to be related to the Mute Goose , but paleontologist Charles William Andrews found in 1897 that the bones suggest a relationship with the Egyptian Geese . Some scientists consider it to be specific to the also extinct Madagascar goose ( Alopochen sirabensis ). In this case it would have to be considered as the nominate form Alopochen mauritianus mauritianus and the Madagascar goose as a subspecies Alopochen mauritianus sirabensis .
die out
Like its relative - the Réunion goose - it was ruthlessly hunted until it was extinct. Its meat was very tasty and it was easy to catch. Still halfway numerous in 1681, the population soon collapsed completely. François Leguat wrote in his notes in 1708 that it was already rare by 1693, and in 1698 it was declared extinct by Governor Roelof Deodati.
literature
- 1953: Masauji Hachisuka. The Dodo and the Kindred Birds
- 1967: James C. Greenway. Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World
Individual evidence
- Andrews, CW (1897): On some fossil remains of Carinate birds from central Madagascar. Ibis 7 (3): 343-359.
- Alopochen mauritiana in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Leguat, François (1708): Voyages et Avantures de François Leguat & de ses Compagnons, en Deux Isles Desertes des Indes Orientales, etc. 2 : 71. Jean Louis de Lorme, Amsterdam. PDF full text available from Gallica: Enter keyword "Leguat"
- Newton, Edward & Gadow, Hans Friedrich (1893): On additional bones of the Dodo and other extinct birds of Mauritius obtained by Mr. Théodore Sauzier. Trans. Zool. Soc. 13 : 281-302, plate 34: figures 9-10.