10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, when Salvador Ramirez left, there were feral goats on the island of San Clemente, the southernmost of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. And so, these goats ate the flora of the island: unique species of Indian paintbrush and woodland star, bushmallow and wirelettuce and morning glory.

Goats 159

Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2014

If the whole thing passed you by then Mother Jones did a good piece on why zoos sometimes have to kill individuals for the good of the species. The drug that turned the White-rumped Vulture from the “most abundant large bird of prey in the world” in 1985 to a species that is critically endangered.

Lions 150

Lions Giraffes Zoos Killing 150

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 197

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 197