No one knows exactly when the Ivory-Billed woodpecker’s population started to decrease as in the history, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker’s are first spotted in 1820 along in Ohio, Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. And because the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is the largest species of Woodpecker, the demand of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker are many. And later in 1837, an archaeologist discovered that a lot of Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers lives along in Texas, and in 1870, throughout the southern forests were in deforestation protect and the government announced a laws to protect the ivory billed woodpeckers throughout the United States, however, the habitat of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was cleared out by timber companies. In the late 1890, the collectors began collecting specimens of rare bird and declined that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker are endangered, but this loss of habitat certainly pushed the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker species toward extinction. The last Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was seen in 1944 and it was later discovered in 2004 in Arkansas and Florida, but the evidence remains controversial. Some also suspect that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker still have survived deep in the forest of Cuba since the end of the Spanish-American war.
Pictures:
How is it connecting/resulting in over hunting/captivity/cruelty? Details on how is it contributing to those issues?
- Even Though the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was found in late 2004, the species still remained as being critically endangered species as its habitat always been disturb from logging and deforestation throughout the US and some in Cuba.
Create a COMPASS analysis on this current trend. N.E.S.W (Nature. Economy. Society. Well-being)
- Nature: The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is the largest Woodpecker species. It’s also are carnivorous, and they mostly eat beetle larvae. So if the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker become extinct, this would ruin the food chain.
- Economy: As a lot of people hunts the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, if the species become extinct, the industries that deals with forest and causes deforestation and destroy animal’s habitat would be stop. And people would lose their jobs of finding the bird as well.
- Society: It is important for the society to learn and have knowledge of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. And if it becomes extinct, the only thing we can learn about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker from are pictures, and informations that we had.
- Well-Being: If the Ivory-Billed woodpecker become extinct, people would not have a chance to learn about the bird, and also some archaeologist may not happy with the extinction of the bird.
Do you have any personal connections/experience towards this current trend?
- This is a personal connections for me as when I was younger, I used to watch the show called “Woody Woodpecker” which the show is simply about its adventures throughout the city and the way it lives it life. Some people might find it funny, but as for me, coming to know that the Woodpecker bird that I’ve been watching since I was younger is coming toward an extinction, because of human act is really disappointing.
Are there any local organizations/awareness campaign/etc supporting a more balanced option for this current trend?
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology attempted to relocate the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and to reproduce it and release it to the wild later on, but the attempt was a failure as they couldn’t find the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and there was no information on the woodpecker.
- Greenpeace is the largest independent environmental organization in the world. They tried to promote peace and save the forest by exposing, and confronting environmental abuse.
How can we reach a more balanced and sustainable solution?
- People should start thinking about the causes of deforestation and logging consequences, because these actions are the cause of why some species are coming to an extinction. And also it’s not just the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker that are affect by this, but there are as well as other species that are suffering as well such as Owls.
Discussion Questions for class (at least 2)
- Name an endangered species that you can think of and explain to the class why and how does it becomes an endangered species
- What would you do to help the endangered species?
Citations:
“Ivory Billed Woodpecker.” Animal Facts and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://bioexpedition.com/ivory-billed-woodpecker/)
“National Geographic.” National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker/)
“Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” Ivory Billed Woodpecker Video. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.arkansas.com/outdoors/birding/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker/)
“Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” , Life History, All About Birds. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ivory-billed_woodpecker/lifehistory)
“Ivory-billed Woodpecker – Elusive, Extinct or Endangered Bird.” Ivory-billed Woodpecker. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.factzoo.com/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct-endangered.html)
“Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” The Slide Toward Extinction — Ivory-billed Woodpecker. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/aboutibwo/slide_extinction_html)
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory-billed_woodpecker#Description)
“History of the Ivorybill.” History of the Ivorybill. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.ivorybill.org/history-of-the-ivorybill/)
“The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | The Nature Conservancy.” The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | The Nature Conservancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. (http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/arkansas/ivorybill/)
Clarissa A. 