Tahiti rail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tahiti rail |
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Gallirallus
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| Gallirallus pacificus |
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The Tahiti rail (Gallirallus pacificus) was a type of bird that lived only on the island of Tahiti. It is now extinct, which means it no longer exists anywhere in the world. This bird was also called the Tahiti red-billed rail or Pacific red-billed rail.
Sailors on James Cook's second voyage found one of these birds in 1773. A scientist named Johann Reinhold Forster described it. His son, Georg, painted pictures of the bird. The local people in Tahiti called it ebōnā or ōmnā.
Contents
What Was the Tahiti Rail?
The Tahiti rail was a member of the rail family of birds. These birds are often found in marshy or wet areas. The Tahiti rail was special because it lived only on the island of Tahiti.
Why the Name Was Confused
For a long time, people sometimes got the Tahiti rail's scientific name mixed up. In the mid-1900s, it was often called Rallus ecaudatus. However, this name actually belongs to a different bird. It is a subspecies of the buff-banded rail. Today, that bird is known as Gallirallus philippensis ecaudatus.
At one point, the Tahiti rail was even mistakenly called Gallinula pacifica. This is the scientific name for the Samoan wood rail. It was important for scientists to clear up these mix-ups. This way, everyone could be sure which bird they were talking about.
How the Tahiti Rail Became Extinct
We do not know many details about why the Tahiti rail disappeared. One idea is that other animals might have hunted it. For example, new animals brought to Tahiti by humans could have been a problem. The island of Tahiti, where the bird lived, also has active volcanoes. It is not clear if this played a role in its extinction. The Tahiti rail likely became extinct sometime between the late 1700s and the 1800s.
Images for kids
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James Cook's ships off Tahiti during his second voyage when this rail was found, William Hodges, 1776
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1907 illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans, based on Forster's plate; the legs are depicted too brightly red.
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The Tongan subspecies of the buff-banded rail, which has been confused with the Tahiti rail
See also
In Spanish: Rascón del Pacífico para niños
