I have read that the combined weight of these birds sometimes broke branches off of trees. Millions upon millions of the pigeons in flight darkened the sky for hours, sometimes all day.

And their roosts. Imagine having to trek across one of their recent roosting areas. Imagine walking along when a flock of millions passes over your head.

Nasty.

Imagine all those millions wiped out,, by man,, not nature ...

Actually, that has been the accepted cause for quite some time and "hunting" has been blamed, but the science and the numbers don't jive. It now appears that the species, while heavily hunted, went into a massive decline in a very short period of time, and had it been recognized in time, perhaps a hunting ban on the birds might have preserved the species, it today looks much much more likely that a form of avian flu decimated the population.

NOW was that flu a result of contact with infected, domesticated birds such as chickens, and was the pathogen thus introduced by humans..., that's still being looked at. So Perhaps it was Humans, but it is now quite unlikely it was hunting that finished off the birds.

LD

That's interesting. I haven't seen the data but I believe it is quite possible that some disease contributed much to the end of those birds.
Nature has a way of controlling a species' overpopulation with starvation and disease.

I recently read about the severe decline of the Ungava and Leaf River herds of caribou in northern Quebec. Canada has apparently stopped all hunting of this species, at least for the time being.

Of course, there is no doubt that man has contributed to the extinction of many species, and continues to do so. But, man has also overpopulated his own habitat. It could be that our numbers will also eventually be decimated by starvation and disease - and war. Or, maybe a big meteor strike.

I think that the last passenger pigeon died of natural causes in a zoo in Ohio in 1918.

I'm betting on disease..., overuse of anti-biotics, plus mutations of bacteria, coupled with us messing about with DNA in those tiny creatures, or messing with a virus..., IF we're lucky it will burn out quickly taking dense populations, otherwise, nature will begin again..., I'm thinking maybe with dolphins...

LD

I agree. The extinction of the passenger pigeon was from more than just one cause; overhunting was just the death nail in their coffin. There has been scientific proposals on bringing back the pigeons. It seems they are very closely related to a couple of other species and could actually make a comeback at sometime in the future.

Obscene human overpopulation, habitat destruction, scarce resources, pollution and global warming have rid the northern USA of native caribou and hundreds of species are barely hanging on. Foolishness, ignorance and greed are doing us in.