From Opus

The species Mauritius Grey Parrot is extinct.

Mauritius Grey Parrot

Alternative name: Thirioux's Grey Parrot

Psittacula bensoni

[edit] Identification

The Mauritius Grey Parrot is only known from a 1602 sketch by Captain Willem van Westzanen and from subfossil bones described by David Thomas Holyoak in 1973. Similar bones described as Psittacula cf bensoni by Julian Pender Hume in 2007 were found on Réunion.

[edit] Distribution

Mauritius and possibly Réunion.

[edit] Taxonomy

Sometimes placed in genus Lophopsittacus.

[edit] Habitat

[edit] Behaviour

When an individual of the Mauritius Grey Parrot was caught it made a loud squawk so that all members of the flock were attracted to follow that squawk. So it was easy for the hunters to take and kill the Mauritius Grey Parrot in a large scale.

[edit] Extinction

The Mauritius Grey Parrot became extinct by overhunting and by large scale slash-and-burn forest clearance. It was last reported in the 1730s.

[edit] References

• Anthony Cheke & Julian Hume: Lost Land of the Dodo. T. & A.D. Poyser, 2008, ISBN 0-7136-6544-0.
• Julian Pender Hume: Reappraisal of the parrots (Aves: Psittacidae) from the Mascarene Islands, with comments on their ecology, morphology, and affinities. Magnolia Press, Auckland, New Zealand. 2007. ISSN 1175-5326

[edit] External Links