All of the extinct bird species illustrated so far died out due to natural factors such as sea level change, competition with other groups, or shifting forest environments. However, some astounding birds would still be extant today if not for human callousness. The list of casualties includes birds that range in size from minuscule to gigantic and in ecology from creeping insect hunters to crushers of large fruits. These birds have one factor in common: They all inhabited islands.Throughout human history, wherever new people alighted as they migrated throughout the world, the situation turned grim for endemic birds. More than 500 extinctions of avian species on islands appear to have occurred in association with human arrivals. The timing of these extinctions ranges from roughly 50,000 years ago to just a few years in the recent past. In some cases, such as the moa of New Zealand, humans hunted a particular species for food, but in many others, indirect effects such as the introduction of normative predators or burning of woodlands were the drivers of extinction.
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