Great O‘ahu Crake

Taxobox
name = Great O'ahu Crake
status = EX
extinct = Early 1000s
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Gruiformes
familia = Rallidae
genus = "Porzana"
species = "P. ralphorum"
binomial = "Porzana ralphorum"
binomial_authority = (Olson, 1973)
range_

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range_map_width = 250px
range_map_caption = Island of O'ahu. The Great O'ahu Rail or Great O'ahu Crake("Porzana ralphorum") is an extinct bird species from O'ahu, one of two flightless rails which have survived on that island until the arrival of people in 200 C.E.

It was the larger of two species of rail found on the island of O'ahu, Hawaii. There were several specimens of this bird found in early settlements. It was 1 1/2 feet tall and had a beak that was an inch long and a neck that was nine inches long. It was probably a brown, grey, and black bird like its recently exinct relatives the Hawaiian and Laysan Rails. It was a flightless bird, due to its small wings that were, on average, less than three inches long.

It probably feed on the fruits, leaves, and flowers of trees that fell onto the ground.

The cause of extiction is not very well known, but we can speculate that it was hunted for meat, and its bones and feathers were used in old style art. It may have also have been attacked by Polynesian Rats that were brought by the natives by accident.

External links

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is extinct