Humans Are The Cause Of A Mass Bird Extinction In The Pacific Islands, Study Says

After examining the incomplete fossil records of birds in the Pacific Islands, scientists have come up with a rather alarming conclusion: humans who settled the area are responsible for the mass extinction of over 1,000 bird species in the area. 

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was headed by Richard Duncan from the Institute of Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. 

"We calculate that human colonization of remote Pacific islands caused the global extinction of close to 1,000 species of nonpasserine landbird alone; nonpasserine seabird and passerine extinctions will add to this total," the study's abstract reads.

Previous estimates of how many birds went extinct varied greatly, thanks in part to the lack of complete fossil records from many of the islands. Still, the timing of these bird extinctions make it pretty clear that humans had something to do with it. 

"This is pretty well accepted because it coincides so well with humans' arrival," Duncan said. 

Duncan also said that while many of the extinctions were the cause of habitat loss, the root cause was still hunting. 

"Cleared forest you know through fire and just clearing for crops and settlements, so then there would have been a loss of habitat and then of course hunting," he explained. "[But] we're predominantly talking about hunting for food."

Many of the birds on the islands grew large, and even flightless, thanks to the lack of natural predation. This, of course, made them easier to hunt. European arrivals on the islands also brought in rats and cats, two major predators of birds. 

While there's not much that can be done about this, the study does highlight the impact that human colonization around the world has had on local populations.