Ascension Night Heron
Encyclopedia
The Ascension Night Heron (Nycticorax olsoni) is an extinct Night heron
species from the genus Nycticorax
endemic to the South Atlantic island of Ascension
. It is predominantly known from the bone fragments of six specimens found in guano deposits and caves on Ascension Island
and described by Philip Ashmole, Kenneth Edwin Laurence Ryder Simmons, and William Richmond Postle Bourne in 2003.
The Ascension Night Heron disappeared in the 16th century. Its scientific name commedorates Storrs L. Olson
.
A possible report on the Ascension Night Heron is found in the chapter "D'une isle nommte I'Ascention" in the travel report Les singularitez de la France antarctique by André Thévet
. Given the fact that Thévet allude to a flightless bird
named Aponar in 1555, it could be quite possible that he referred to the Ascension Night Heron. The English translation of Thevet's notice about the Aponar (sometimes also written Aponat or Aponard) is stated as followed
It is known that Thevet is not entirely reliable and sometimes invented animals or other details. The name aponard is attested by Jacques Cartier
, who used it for the Great Auk
in a report on a Northwest Atlantic expedition a few years earlier. No Great Auk or similar bones could be found on Ascension; they are rather heavy for bird bones, the Great Auk having been a large flightless species adapted to diving and certainly would preserve better than those of a Nycticorax. Considering this and biogeography
, it is as good as certain that Thevet cannot have seen the same bird as Cartier encountered on the Great Banks.
Cartier's reports aroused considerable interest among the educated French around 1550, and it is quite likely that Thevet himself had read them and that they were his source for the name. Whether Theved invented his aponar in yet another attempt to make his book more interesting - as he was wont to -, or whether his testimony is in fact a description of the Nycticorax is hard to decide. Cartier's description is vague and Thevet had almost certainly not seen an actual Great Auk by 1558; his description may equally well apply to either that bird or a Nycticorax, though some details - the comparison with herons or the voice - seem to fit the Ascension Night Heron better than the Great Auk.
Night heron
The night herons are medium-sized herons in the genera Nycticorax, Nyctanassa and Gorsachius. The genus name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the...
species from the genus Nycticorax
Nycticorax
Nycticorax is a genus of night herons. The name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the Black-crowned Night Heron.These are medium-sized herons which...
endemic to the South Atlantic island of Ascension
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
. It is predominantly known from the bone fragments of six specimens found in guano deposits and caves on Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
and described by Philip Ashmole, Kenneth Edwin Laurence Ryder Simmons, and William Richmond Postle Bourne in 2003.
The Ascension Night Heron disappeared in the 16th century. Its scientific name commedorates Storrs L. Olson
Storrs L. Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson is an American biologist and ornithologist from the Smithsonian Institution. He is one of the world's foremost avian paleontologists....
.
A possible report on the Ascension Night Heron is found in the chapter "D'une isle nommte I'Ascention" in the travel report Les singularitez de la France antarctique by André Thévet
André Thévet
André de Thevet was a French Franciscan priest, explorer, cosmographer and writer who travelled to Brazil in the 16th century...
. Given the fact that Thévet allude to a flightless bird
Flightless bird
Flightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim. They are thought to have evolved from flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, kiwi, and penguin...
named Aponar in 1555, it could be quite possible that he referred to the Ascension Night Heron. The English translation of Thevet's notice about the Aponar (sometimes also written Aponat or Aponard) is stated as followed
It is known that Thevet is not entirely reliable and sometimes invented animals or other details. The name aponard is attested by Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
, who used it for the Great Auk
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
in a report on a Northwest Atlantic expedition a few years earlier. No Great Auk or similar bones could be found on Ascension; they are rather heavy for bird bones, the Great Auk having been a large flightless species adapted to diving and certainly would preserve better than those of a Nycticorax. Considering this and biogeography
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
, it is as good as certain that Thevet cannot have seen the same bird as Cartier encountered on the Great Banks.
Cartier's reports aroused considerable interest among the educated French around 1550, and it is quite likely that Thevet himself had read them and that they were his source for the name. Whether Theved invented his aponar in yet another attempt to make his book more interesting - as he was wont to -, or whether his testimony is in fact a description of the Nycticorax is hard to decide. Cartier's description is vague and Thevet had almost certainly not seen an actual Great Auk by 1558; his description may equally well apply to either that bird or a Nycticorax, though some details - the comparison with herons or the voice - seem to fit the Ascension Night Heron better than the Great Auk.