Imber's petrel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Imber's petrelTemporal range: Holocene
|
|
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Pterodroma
|
| Species: |
imberi
|
Imber's petrel (Pterodroma imberi) was a type of seabird called a gadfly petrel. It lived only on the Chatham Islands, a group of islands far to the east of New Zealand. Sadly, this bird is now extinct, meaning it no longer exists anywhere in the world. It was named after a New Zealand bird expert, Mike Imber.
Contents
What Was Imber's Petrel?
Imber's petrel was a member of the Pterodroma family, also known as gadfly petrels. These birds are amazing flyers, spending most of their lives soaring over the open ocean. They have long, narrow wings that help them glide effortlessly over the waves.
Home on the Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands are a small group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of New Zealand. For thousands of years, these islands were a safe haven for many unique birds. There were no land predators, like cats or rats, to hunt the birds or their eggs. This made the islands perfect nesting grounds for seabirds like Imber's petrel.
How Do We Know About It?
Scientists learned about Imber's petrel by finding its bones. The first bones were collected in 1947. However, it took many years for scientists to realize these bones belonged to a new species.
In 1967, a British bird expert named William Richard Postle Bourne studied the bones. He realized they were from a unique type of petrel that had never been described before. He also figured out that this bird was already extinct.
Why Did Imber's Petrel Disappear?
Imber's petrel likely became extinct in the 1800s. This was around the time when the first European settlers arrived on the Chatham Islands. These settlers brought animals with them, including cats.
Cats are natural hunters, and they quickly became a big problem for the native birds. The petrels had never encountered predators like cats before. They had no natural defenses against them. The cats hunted the adult birds and their chicks, and they also ate their eggs. Because of this, Imber's petrel could not survive and eventually died out.
