Tasmanian emu

Last updated

Tasmanian emu
Tasmanian Emu.jpg
1910 restoration by John Gerrard Keulemans, based on a skin at the British Museum, posed after a photograph of the mainland emu
Extinct  (1865)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order: Casuariiformes
Family: Casuariidae
Genus: Dromaius
Species:
D. novaehollandiae
Subspecies:
†D. n. diemenensis
Trinomial name
†Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis
Le Souef, 1907
Dromaius distribution.png
Geographic distribution of emu taxa and historic shoreline reconstructions around Tasmania
Synonyms

Dromaeius diemenensis(lapsus) Le Souef, 1907

The Tasmanian emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis) is an extinct subspecies of emu. It was found in Tasmania, where it had become isolated during the Late Pleistocene. As opposed to the other insular emu taxa, the King Island emu and the Kangaroo Island emu, the population on Tasmania was sizable, meaning that there were no marked effects of small population size as in the other two isolates.

Contents

The Tasmanian emu became extinct around 1865 according to the Australian Species Profile and Threats database. [1] This was officially recorded in 1997 when changes to listings of nationally threatened species saw the Tasmanian emu added to the list of species presumed extinct. [2]

Information regarding the emu is reliant on 19th century documentary evidence and the limited number of emu specimens in museums. As a consequence one of the biggest challenges in researching the Tasmanian emu is the many names or spellings used to describe the emu. The early colonial accounts spell it 'emue', [3] Reverend Robert Knopwood spelt it as 'emew'. [4] Other early accounts referred to it as a 'cassowary' and even an 'ostrich'. [5] George Augustus Robinson recorded two indigenous words for the Tasmanian emu. The Oyster Bay Indigenous language word for emu is Pun.nune.ner and the Brune Indigenous language word is Gonanner. [6]

Description

The Tasmanian emu had not progressed to the point where it could be considered a distinct species and even its status as a distinct subspecies is not universally accepted, as it agreed with the mainland birds in measurements and the external characters used to distinguish it – a whitish instead of a black foreneck and throat and an unfeathered neck – apparently are also present, albeit rare, in some mainland birds.

There are suggestions the bird was slightly smaller than the mainland emu, but in conflict, other evidence (including descriptions of Pleistocene remains) indicates that both are similar in size. [7]

Distribution and habitat

Emus at Stanley, Tasmania, during the 1840s, by William Porden Kay Emus at Stanley during the 1840s.jpg
Emus at Stanley, Tasmania, during the 1840s, by William Porden Kay

There is much evidence to suggest Tasmanian emus were abundant in Van Diemen's Land. John Latham's 1823 publication affirms Charles Jeffrey's observations in which he claims that mobs of emus were common and that a mob would consist of seventy or eighty birds. [8] The Sydney Gazette in 1803 painted an image of the Van Diemen's Land landscape, when it reported the arrival of Lieutenant Bowen on the Lady Nelson: 'close to the Settlement are abundance of Emues, large Kangaroos, and Swans'. [9] [ full citation needed ] In 1804, it was reported that David Collins's expedition found that 'the emue [is] plentiful'. [10] [ full citation needed ] In 1808 George Harris the surveyor travelled from Hobart Town to Launceston, and wrote that his party walked 'thro the finest country in the world ... the quantities of kangaroos, emus and wild ducks we saw ... [was] incredible'. [11]

The Tasmanian Indigenous people's sustainable relationship with the emu also suggests emu population numbers were significant. Indigenous people used a substance called 'patener'. This ointment was made from a ground metal mixed with emu fat/oil and was used to mark their heads and bodies. [12] [ full citation needed ] In 1831, Robinson described an Aboriginal dwelling, stating that the ground in front of this habitation was thickly strewed with the feathers of the emu, and the bones of the stately bird ... covered the ground, which the natives had broken to pieces to obtain the marrow to anoint their head and body. [6]

Relationship with humans

At a ceremony at Cape Grim on 14 April 1834, Aboriginal people danced and characterised emus by stretching out one arm to emulate the long neck of the bird. [13] The Tasmanian emu was also symbolised in Indigenous art. The depiction of the emu in 'native drawings' is noted in the narrative of the overland journey of Sir John and Lady Franklin from Hobart to Macquarie Harbour in 1842. The area they were referring to was subsequently called Painters Plains. [14]

The emu's representation in ceremonial activities and art suggests a great familiarity with the emu and may further support the notion of its abundance in Van Diemen's Land. The proliferation of places in Van Diemen's Land named after the emu also indicates the plentiful existence of the species. Henry Hellyer, the surveyor for the Van Diemen's Land Company, came across a river and seeing the footprints of the emu on some moist ground by the water called it Emu River. Emu Bay takes its name from that river. [15] [ full citation needed ] There are also Emu Bottom, Emu Valley, Emu Flat, Emu Hill, Emu Ground, Emu Heights, Emu Plains and Emu Point. [16] There was an Emu Inn in Hobart as early as 1823, and later the Emu Tavern in Liverpool Street, Hobart. [17]

Extinction

In 1838, John Gould after his voyage to Van Diemen's Land claimed that 'it would require a month search, in the most remote parts of the island, before one could see any'. [18] There were warnings about the increasing rarity of the emu. In 1826, a letter from Oyster Bay stated that 'they will soon be extinct'. In 1831, a traveller reported that emus were rarely seen in the midlands, though they were numerous to the westward. A second letter in 1832 claimed that 'the Emu is now extinct from the midland region around Bothwell'. [19] That year dogs killed 'a beautiful specimen of the emu' at Oatlands. It weighed about 100 pounds (45 kg), and the skin was carefully stuffed. [20] [ full citation needed ]

An article in the Hobart Town Courier in 1832 deplored the loss of the emu, comparing it to that of the dodo, 'and we mention it particularly upon the present occasion, in order to impress upon our local government the propriety of taking some steps to prevent similar annihilation of that apparently no less valuable bird our native Emu. It is now very rarely to be met with in the island.' The author suggested keeping a few pairs in an enclosed area. [21] [ full citation needed ] This plea for preservation was echoed by Ronald Campbell Gunn who in 1836 reflected on an unsuccessful attempt to entice Lieutenant-Governor Arthur to respond to the plight of the Tasmanian emu, pointing out that 'Emus are now extremely rare – and in a few years will be quite gone'. [22]

James Fenton [23] immigrated in 1834; he wrote that he never saw an emu, and only heard of one being seen near the Leven in 1839. He claimed that the emus had all disappeared from some 'unknown cause'. [23] There are many theories about what led to the extinction of the Tasmanian emu.

1887 illustration of an emu being chased by two thylacines. Animal life in the sea and on the land (1887) (14780637625).jpg
1887 illustration of an emu being chased by two thylacines.

Hunting

The Tasmanian emu was, as were the mainland birds, hunted as a pest but more likely for food. While settlers used guns to hunt emus, the emu's speed meant guns were not necessarily effective hunting weapons on their own. [24] The introduction of the domestic dog changed this. It was so revolutionary, that the introduction of dogs should be considered a major contributing factor to the extinction of the Tasmanian emu: Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Van Diemen's Land did not have a domestic dog, nor were dingos present. Other than humans, the only other species to hunt the emu was the thylacine, which was an endurance hunter with a tendency to track and tire its prey. In contrast, larger domestic hunting dogs, with greater speed and size, had a formidable impact. [11]

Grass fires

In addition, the practice of setting fire to grassland and shrubland to aid in claiming land for agriculture deprived the birds of habitat. The subspecies became extinct around 1850, but this date is not very precise: mainland birds were introduced after diemenensis' disappearance (and possibly even when the last birds of the Tasmanian subspecies were still around, therefore hybridising them out of existence), but the history of emu introductions on Tasmania is not sufficiently documented to allow a more precise dating of the disappearance of diemenensis. Whether a sight record in 1865 and captive specimens that died in 1873 were of this subspecies is not known with certainty. [25]

Fences

Fences have been blamed for causing a reduction of emu numbers in mainland Australia due to the injury incurred when an emu collides with a fence. It is highly probable that fences had the same effect in Tasmania. While it is difficult to provide absolute proof, an article published by Peregrine in The Mercury supports this claim, stating that emus could not jump fences and tended to pace along the fence until they could find an opening, otherwise they would stay behind the fence. [26] [ full citation needed ]

Could the fence actually represent a larger issue relating to land use and greater competition between the emu and sheep and cattle for land, food and resources? The emus in Van Diemen's Land probably needed fertile and sheltered lands for reproduction on a scale that would maintain their population. The process of farmers taking over, clearing and enclosing stretches of land could have had a detrimental impact on emu populations by limiting the amount of land available for the emu to flourish. [27]

Invasive rats

Another theory suggests that invasive rats could have contributed to the rapid extinction of the Tasmanian emu. [28] The extinction theory is based on historical documents that reference Tasmanian Aboriginal people talking about goanna eggs being eaten by rats. Tasmania doesn't have goannas, therefore suggesting that this was a mistranslation of “gonanner”, an Aboriginal word for emu. [29]

Museum specimens

There are specimens of the Tasmanian emu scattered throughout the world. Within Australia, museum collections hold Tasmanian emu eggs, bones, feathers, and skeletons. However, there are only a few known Tasmanian emu skins in the world.

Knox & Walters (1994) [30] detail both the eggs and the skins of the Tasmanian emu specimens held by London's Natural History Museum. [30] It is known that, in 1838, two skin specimens were originally received by the British Museum.

The specimens in the British Museum remained uncatalogued until 1907, when the ornithologist le Souef reported that he had discovered the Gunn specimens of the now extinct Tasmanian emu. [31] The news spread quickly to Australia and, in May 1908, Robert Hall, a curator at the Tasmanian Museum, wrote to the British Museum requesting one skin to be returned to Tasmania. This correspondence does not seem to have been acknowledged and needless to say, neither skin was ever returned. [19]

On 1 January 1960, in reply to a query about the Tasmanian emu skins, the Australian ornithologist journal Emu reported that, according to the British Museum, the skins had been mounted since their rediscovery in 1907, and could no longer be found at the South Kensington site. The Museum assumed that they had been destroyed when the exhibition gallery was damaged in the blitz during the Second World War, along with many other specimens. [32] Twelve months later there was a correction. The journal reported that 'Happily, those Emu specimens were not mounted and had been removed for safety, along with a lot of other valuable ratite material, to the museum premises at Tring, Hertfordshire'. [33] The specimens remained at the Natural History Museum premises at Tring and can be found there today.

A supposed third specimen in Frankfurt is erroneously attributed to this subspecies (Steinbacher, 1959). While it is known that the skin in Germany came from Tasmania, it is suggested that this skin may in fact be from a domesticated Australian mainland emu that had been brought into Tasmania. [34]

John Helder Wedge donated a Tasmanian emu skin to the Saffron Walden Museum in Saffron Walden in 1833. [35] It is unfortunate that, during the 1960s, the museum collections were reorganised and a large number of specimens were sent for disposal. An emu is on the disposal list according to the records of the Saffron Walden Museum.

In 2018, the Austrian Natural History Museum in Vienna displayed a taxidermed Tasmanian emu.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmania</span> State of Australia

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by the Bass Strait, with the archipelago containing the southernmost point of the country. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's least populous state, with 569,825 residents as of December 2021. The state capital and largest city is Hobart, with around 40 percent of the population living in the Greater Hobart area. Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of it residents living within its capital city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thylacine</span> Extinct carnivorous marsupial from Australasia

The thylacine, also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The thylacine died out in New Guinea and mainland Australia around 3,600–3,200 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans, possibly because of the introduction of the dingo, whose earliest record dates to around the same time, but which never reached Tasmania. Prior to European settlement, around 5,000 remained in the wild on Tasmania. Beginning in the nineteenth century, they were perceived as a threat to the livestock of farmers and bounty hunting was introduced. The last known of its species died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The thylacine is widespread in popular culture and is a cultural icon in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emu</span> Large flightless bird endemic to Australia

The emu is a species of flightless bird endemic to Australia, where it is the largest native bird. It is the only extant member of the genus Dromaius and the second-tallest living bird after its African ratite relative, the common ostrich. The emu's native ranges cover most of the Australian mainland. The Tasmanian, Kangaroo Island and King Island subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black currawong</span> Large passerine bird endemic to Tasmania and Bass Strait islands

The black currawong, also known locally as the black jay, is a large passerine bird endemic to Tasmania and the nearby islands within the Bass Strait. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie within the family Artamidae. It is a large crow-like bird, around 50 cm (20 in) long on average, with yellow irises, a heavy bill, and black plumage with white wing patches. The male and female are similar in appearance. Three subspecies are recognised, one of which, Strepera fuliginosa colei of King Island, is vulnerable to extinction.

<i>Dromaius</i> Genus of birds

Dromaius is a genus of ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, Dromaius novaehollandiae, commonly known as the emu.

The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the Last Glacial Period when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation of Tasmania in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moorhen</span> Genus of birds

Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus Gallinula, Latin for "little hen". They are close relatives of coots. They are often referred to as (black) gallinules. Recently, one of the species of Gallinula was found to have enough differences to form a new genus Paragallinula with the only species being the lesser moorhen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White swamphen</span> Extinct species of rail from Lord Howe Island

The white swamphen, also known as the Lord Howe swamphen, Lord Howe gallinule or white gallinule, is an extinct species of rail which lived on Lord Howe Island, east of Australia. It was first encountered when the crews of British ships visited the island between 1788 and 1790, and all contemporary accounts and illustrations were produced during this time. Today, two skins exist: the holotype in the Natural History Museum of Vienna, and another in Liverpool's World Museum. Although historical confusion has existed about the provenance of the specimens and the classification and anatomy of the bird, it is now thought to have been a distinct species endemic to Lord Howe Island and most similar to the Australasian swamphen. Subfossil bones have also been discovered since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Island (Tasmania)</span> Island in the Bass Strait

King Island is an island in the Bass Strait, belonging to the Australian state of Tasmania. It is the largest of four islands known as the New Year Group and the second-largest island in Bass Strait. The island's population at the 2016 census was 1,585 people, up from 1,566 in 2011. The local government area of the island is the King Island Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Tasmania</span>

Tasmania, the largest island of Australia, has a landmass of 68,401 km2 (26,410 sq mi) and is located directly in the pathway of the notorious "Roaring Forties" wind that encircles the globe. To its north, it is separated from mainland Australia by Bass Strait. Tasmania is the only Australian state that is not located on the Australian mainland. About 2,500 kilometres south of Tasmania island lies the George V Coast of Antarctica. Depending on which borders of the oceans are used, the island can be said to be either surrounded by the Southern Ocean, or to have the Pacific on its east and the Indian to its west. Still other definitions of the ocean boundaries would have Tasmania with the Great Australian Bight to the west, and the Tasman Sea to the east. The southernmost point on mainland Tasmania is approximately 43°38′37″S146°49′38″E at South East Cape, and the northernmost point on mainland Tasmania is approximately 40°38′26″S144°43′33″E in Woolnorth / Temdudheker near Cape Grim / Kennaook. Tasmania lies at similar latitudes to Te Waipounamu / South Island of New Zealand, and parts of Patagonia in South America, and relative to the Northern Hemisphere, it lies at similar latitudes to Hokkaido in Japan, Northeast China (Manchuria), the north Mediterranean in Europe, and the Canada-United States border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Pearce</span> Irish convicted criminal and confessed cannibal

Alexander Pearce was an Irish convict who was transported to the penal colony in Van Diemen's Land, Australia for seven years for theft. He escaped from prison several times, allegedly becoming a cannibal during one of the escapes. In another escape, with one companion, he allegedly killed him and ate him in pieces. He was eventually captured and was hanged in Hobart for murder, before being dissected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casuariiformes</span> Order of birds

The Casuariiformes is an order of large flightless birds that has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of emu. They are divided into either a single family, Casuariidae, or more typically two, with the emu splitting off into its own family, Dromaiidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kangaroo Island emu</span> Extinct subspecies of bird

The Kangaroo Island emu or dwarf emu is an extinct subspecies of emu. It was restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, which was known as Ile Decrés by the members of the Baudin expedition. It differed from the mainland emu mainly in its smaller size. The species became extinct by about 1827.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Island emu</span> Extinct subspecies of flightless bird from the Bass Strait island

The King Island emu is an extinct subspecies of emu that was endemic to King Island, in the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Its closest relative may be the extinct Tasmanian emu, as they belonged to a single population until less than 14,000 years ago when Tasmania and King Island were still connected. The small size of the King Island emu may be an example of insular dwarfism. The King Island emu was the smallest of all known emus and had darker plumage than the mainland emu. It was black and brown and had naked blue skin on the neck, and its chicks were striped like those on the mainland. The subspecies was distinct from the likewise small and extinct Kangaroo Island emu in a number of osteological details, including size. The behaviour of the King Island emu probably did not differ much from that of the mainland emu. The birds gathered in flocks to forage and during breeding time. They fed on berries, grass and seaweed. They ran swiftly and could defend themselves by kicking. The nest was shallow and consisted of dead leaves and moss. Seven to nine eggs were laid, which were incubated by both parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Vincent Legge</span> Australian soldier and ornithologist

Colonel William Vincent Legge was an Australian soldier and an ornithologist who documented the birds of Sri Lanka. Legge's hawk-eagle is named after him as is Legge's flowerpecker and Legges Tor, the second highest peak in Tasmania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Knopwood</span> Australian settler (1763–1838)

Robert Knopwood was an early clergyman and diarist in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vansittart Island</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

Vansittart Island, also known as Gun Carriage Island, is a granite island with an area of 800 hectares. The island is part of Tasmania's Vansittart Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group.

Robbins Island is a 9,900-hectare (24,000-acre) island located in Bass Strait, lying off the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island, separated from the Tasmanian mainland by a highly tidal area known as Robbins Passage, lies south to the adjacent Walker Island.

'Tarenorerer, also known as Montserrat, Tuculillo, or Walloa, was a rebel leader of the Indigenous Australians in Tasmania. Between 1828 and 1830, she led a guerrilla band of indigenous people of both sexes against the British colonists in Tasmania during the Black War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmanian temperate forests</span> Ecoregion in Tasmania, Australia

The Tasmanian temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Australia. The ecoregion occupies the eastern portion of the island of Tasmania, which lies south of the Australian mainland.

References

  1. ↑ "Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis / Tasmanian emu / Emu (Tasmanian)". Species profile and threats database. Australian Government, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Tasmanian emu officially extinct". The Advocate . Burnie, Tasmania. 22 August 1997. p. 11.
  3. ↑ "Lieutenant Governor Collin's arrival in VDL". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 26 August 1804.
  4. ↑ Knopwood, Robert (1977). Nicholls, Mary (ed.). The diary of the Reverend Robert Knopwood, 1803-1838: First chaplain of Van Diemen's Land. Hobart, Tasmania: Tasmanian Historical Research Association. ISBN   0-909479-00-3. OCLC   4467573.
  5. ↑ "Emus at Windsor". Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser. 9 January 1824.
  6. 1 2 Robinson, George Augustus (2008). Plomley, N.J.B. (ed.). Friendly Mission: The Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson, 1829-1834 (2nd ed.). Launceston, Tasmania: Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery / Quintus Publishing. ISBN   978-0-9775572-2-6. OCLC   271559484.
  7. ↑ Heupink, T.H.; Huynen, L.; Lambert, D.M. (2011). "Ancient DNA suggests dwarf and 'giant' emu are conspecific". PLOS ONE. 6 (4): e18728. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...618728H. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018728 . PMC   3073985 . PMID   21494561.
  8. ↑ Latham, J. (1823). A General History of Birds. Winchester, UK. p. 138.
  9. ↑ "[no title cited]". The Sydney Gazette . Sydney, AU. 16 October 1803.
  10. ↑ "[no title cited]". The Sydney Gazette . Sydney, AU. 26 August 1804.
  11. 1 2 Boyce, James (2008). Van Diemen's Land. Black. p. 63. ISBN   9781863954136.
  12. ↑ "[no title cited]". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 29 January 1874.
  13. ↑ Macfarlane, Ian (2010). "Adolphus Schayer: Van Diemen's Land and the Berlin Papers". Tasmanian Historical Research Association Papers and Proceedings. 57 (2): 105–118.
  14. ↑ Burn, D. (1955). Narrative of the Overland Journey of Sir John and Lady Franklin, and party, from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour 1842. Sydney, AU. p. 19.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ↑ "[no title cited]". The Advocate . Burnie, Tasmania. 31 August 1936.
  16. ↑ "The E.R. Pretyman index to Tasmanian place names". librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  17. ↑ Bryce, D. (1997). Pubs in Hobart: From 1807. Rosny Park. p. 56.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ↑ Gould, John (1865). Handbook to the Birds of Australia. Vol. II. London, UK. p. 202.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. 1 2 Paddle, Robert (2000). The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The history and extinction of the thylacine. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-78219-7. OCLC   59361805.
  20. ↑ "[no title cited]". Hobart Town Courier . 7 September 1832.
  21. ↑ "[no title cited]". Hobart Town Courier . 10 August 1832.
  22. ↑ Burns, T.E.; Skemp, John Rowland; Hooker, William J., Sir (1961). Van Diemen's Land Correspondents. Launceston, Tasmania: Queen Victoria Museum.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. 1 2 Fenton, James (1964). Bush life in Tasmania fifty years ago. London, UK: Hazel, Watson & Viney.
  24. ↑ Burn, David (1973). A Picture of Van Diemen's Land. Hobart, Tasmania: Cat & Fiddle Press. ISBN   0-85853-013-9. OCLC   2033882.
  25. ↑ "How Slash and Burn Agriculture Affects Geography". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  26. ↑ "[no title cited]". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 20 July 1942.
  27. ↑ Davies, S.J.J.F. (2002). Ratites and tinamous: Tinamidae, Rheidae, Dromaiidae, Casuariidae, Apterygidae, Struthionidae. Bamford, Mike. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-854996-2. OCLC   47756048.
  28. ↑ Bennett, Lachlan (9 July 2017). "Theory suggests extinction of Tasmanian emu may have been caused by rats". The Advocate . Burnie, Tasmania. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  29. ↑ Dooley, Robert (December 2017). "From 'abundance of emues' to a rare bird in the land: The extinction of the Tasmanian emu". Tasmanian Historical Research Association. 64 (3): 4–17.
  30. 1 2 Knox, A.; Walters, M. (1994). Extinct and endangered birds in the collections of the Natural History Museum. Tring, Hertfordshire, UK: British Ornithologists' Club. p. 32.
  31. ↑ "The hundred and thirty fifth meeting of the club ... on Wednesday 16 October 1907". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. xxi (CXXXVI): 13. 20 October 1907.
  32. ↑ Green (1960). "Extinct Dromaius species". Emu . 60: 19. doi:10.1071/MU960019.
  33. ↑ Macdonald, J. (1961). "Specimens of extinct Tasmanian emu". Emu . 61 (4): 333. doi:10.1071/MU961328f.
  34. ↑ Hartert, Ernst (1891). Katalog Der Vogelsammlung in Museum Der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt Am Main[Catalog of the Birds Collected in the Museum of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society in Frankfurt on Main] (in German). Frankfurt, DE: Knauer. p. 249.
  35. ↑ Taylor, Rebe (Summer 2017). "Wedge politics" (PDF). SL Magazine. Vol. Summer 2017. p. 18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.