Scolopax brachycarpa facts for kids

Scolopax brachycarpa was an extinct type of woodcock. A woodcock is a shy, medium-sized bird with a long beak. This bird belonged to the family Scolopacidae, which includes sandpipers and snipes. It lived only on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. This island is now home to two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

About the Hispaniolan Woodcock

The Hispaniolan woodcock was part of a group of woodcocks that once lived on the larger Caribbean islands. Another extinct bird from this group was Scolopax anthonyi, which lived in Puerto Rico. Scientists have studied the bones of these birds. They found that the Hispaniolan woodcock's bones were more like those of the Eurasian woodcock (S. rusticola). They were less like the bones of the American woodcock (S. minor). This helps scientists understand how these birds are related.

When Did It Live?

Scientists found the first bones of the Hispaniolan woodcock in a cave in Haiti. This cave is called Trouing Jean Paul. It is a limestone cave from the late Holocene period. The Holocene is the current geological time period, which started about 11,700 years ago.

The bones found in the cave are between 650 and 1600 years old. This means the birds were alive during that time. The Hispaniolan woodcock was the fourth most common animal found in the group of fossils from the cave.

Why Did It Disappear?

Early people, called Paleo-Indians, arrived on Hispaniola more than 5,000 years before the woodcock fossils were dated. This means the Hispaniolan woodcock likely survived when the first humans came to the island. It might have even been alive when Europeans first arrived on the island.

However, scientists did not start studying the birds of Hispaniola very carefully until the 1800s. By that time, the Hispaniolan woodcock may have already vanished. It was probably wiped out by new animals brought to the island by humans. These invasive species included cats, dogs, and mongooses. These animals would have hunted the woodcocks, leading to their extinction.

See also

• Extinct birds
• Birds of the Caribbean