Hawaii hardest hit by loss of eight birds, with an Ohio catfish, a Pacific fruit bat and eight freshwater mussels also disappearing
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    6 months ago

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    Four other species are at imminent risk of extinction, largely due to an epidemic of avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive mosquitoes, and habitat loss.

    And the climate crisis, which has shifted local weather patterns and reshaped sensitive island ecosystems, is further complicating matters, said Rachel Kingsley.

    In his nearly 50-year career, Jim Jacobi, a biologist with the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, has been one of the last people on earth to ever see at least four birds that are now considered extinct.

    Its cousins on the Big Island, Oahu and Molokaʻi had even grander tail feathers that were once used to construct the cloaks and capes worn by Hawaiian royalty, explained Jonee Peters, executive director of the Conservation Council for Hawaii.

    “What makes us Hawai’ian is the collective experiences of ourselves and of our ancestors,” said Noah Gomes, a native bird expert and historian based in Hilo, Hawaii.

    The flat pigtoe mussel, for example, only gained ESA protections in 1987 – seven years after it was last seen in the wild, and more than a decade after construction began on a dam that experts agreed would imperil its population.

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