Floreana mockingbird
Floreana mockingbird | |
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Mimidae |
Genus: | Mimus |
Species: | M. trifasciatus |
Binomial name | |
Mimus trifasciatus (Gould, 1837) | |
Synonyms | |
Nesomimus trifasciatus |
The Floreana mockingbird or Charles mockingbird (Mimus trifasciatus) is a bird species in the family Mimidae.
It is endemic to Floreana, one of the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador; at present it only occurs on offshore islets however. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. The Floreana mockingbird is also known as Darwin's mockingbird, as it was the arguable inspiration for Charles Darwin's work on the origins of species; he noticed distinct differences between them and previous species he had encountered and consequently established the existence of other variants on neighbouring islands.[2]
Previously classified as an Endangered species by the IUCN, recent research shows that its numbers are decreasing more and more rapidly, and it is on the brink of extinction. It was consequently uplisted to Critically Endangered status in 2008.[1]
Re-population efforts
Today, two small sub-populations are extant on the small satellite islets of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana.[3] They are due to be re-introduced as a third, possibly hybridized population on Floreana (due to genetic compatibility and hybrid viability revealed through analysis of the Darwin-Fitzroy collections).[3]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 BirdLife International (2013). "Mimus trifasciatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ "Darwin's mockingbirds knock finches off perch".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8364778.stm
References
- BirdLife International (BLI) (2008): [2008 IUCN Redlist status changes]. Retrieved 2008-MAY-23.
External links
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Wikispecies has information related to: Mimus trifasciatus |