Passenger Pigeon Report: Which extinct animal would you like to bring back and why?
by
Kate Yoder
It is hard to believe that in the 1800,s the passenger pigeon existed in larger numbers than all other birds in North America combined. There were five billion passenger pigeons, but they became extinct in less than one hundred years after the European settlers came to North America. The passenger pigeons became extinct because their habitat was taken for farms, many people hunted and killed them for meat, and female passenger pigeons only laid one egg per year so they were not able to reproduce fast enough to save themselves. One flock of passenger pigeons could have two billion birds before the European settlers came.
Martha was the last passenger pigeon to live and she was named for George Washington's wife. Martha was kept in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. She died on September 1, 1914 from old age or loneliness.
The reasons I would like to bring the passenger pigeon back to life are because they were a good source of food for animals such as foxes, weasels, wolves and minks. It might be why some of these animals are rare today. The extinction of the passenger pigeon was caused by people; it was not caused by natural events.