Hawai'i Mamo
Encyclopedia
The Hawai'i Mamo was a species
of finch
in the Hawaiian honeycreeper
subfamily
, Drepanididae. It was endemic to Hawaii
. It became extinct due to habitat loss and overcollecting.
canopy and fed on lobelia nectar, from the plant's curved, tubular flowers. Its call was a long, plaintive whistle
.
an society. Its orange feathers were used to create capes and hats (featherwork
) that were used by royalty,. Feather collecting contributed to the bird's decline. The famous yellow cloak of Kamehameha I
is estimated to have taken the reigns of eight monarchs and the golden feathers of 80,000 birds to complete.
Hawaiians collected the birds by removing sap
from sandalwood
trees and breadfruit
to create a sticky paste that they placed near the blossoms of lobelias. A hungry Mamo would drink the nectar, and its feet would get stuck in the sap.
Some scientists claim that after plucking, Mamo were kept as pets, or cooked. Others claimed that the birds were released, and that there was a Kapu or restriction that required live release. Even if the birds were released, they would still be in a state of shock and risk injury. However, Hawaiian birds are relatively tame and unafraid when captured, and so might have survived handling better than most birds.
European settlers changed the Mamo's habitat to support agriculture and cattle ranching, which damaged the bird's food source. The cattle roamed loose in the forests, destroying the understory ecosystem. Even though this was discovered early and was well known to the Hawaiians, the Mamo quickly disappeared.
Avian pox may have killed any birds that survived habitat destruction. There are many specimens of this bird in American and European museums. The bird seemed to disappear in 1899, but reports of this bird continued for a few more years. The last confirmed sighting was in 1899 near Kaumana on the island of Hawai'i by a collector, H. W. Henshaw, who, as mentioned by Tim Flannery
in his book, A Gap In Nature, shot and wounded a bird he was stalking, before it escaped with another bird.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of finch
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
in the Hawaiian honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreepers are small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. Some authorities still categorize this group as a family Drepanididae, but in recent years, most authorities consider them a subfamily, Drepanidinae, of Fringillidae, the finch family...
subfamily
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, Drepanididae. It was endemic to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. It became extinct due to habitat loss and overcollecting.
Description
This bird was black with orange-yellow feathers on its legs, on its bottom and near the tail. It had small, beady black eyes and was the centerpiece of portraits. It had a slightly curving blackish yellow bill, some three inches long. Juveniles may have been brown. This shy species lived in the forestForest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
canopy and fed on lobelia nectar, from the plant's curved, tubular flowers. Its call was a long, plaintive whistle
Whistle
A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
.
In Hawaiian culture
The Mamo was one of the most honored birds in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an society. Its orange feathers were used to create capes and hats (featherwork
Featherwork
Featherwork is the working of feathers into a cultural artifact. This was especially elaborate among the peoples of Oceania and the Americas, such as the Incas and Aztecs....
) that were used by royalty,. Feather collecting contributed to the bird's decline. The famous yellow cloak of Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I , also known as Kamehameha the Great, conquered the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. By developing alliances with the major Pacific colonial powers, Kamehameha preserved Hawaii's independence under his rule...
is estimated to have taken the reigns of eight monarchs and the golden feathers of 80,000 birds to complete.
Hawaiians collected the birds by removing sap
Sap
Sap may refer to:* Plant sap, the fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant* Sap , a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia...
from sandalwood
Santalum
Santalum is a genus of woody flowering plants, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian Sandalwood tree, S. album. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites which photosynthesize their own food but tap the roots of other species for water and...
trees and breadfruit
Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
to create a sticky paste that they placed near the blossoms of lobelias. A hungry Mamo would drink the nectar, and its feet would get stuck in the sap.
Some scientists claim that after plucking, Mamo were kept as pets, or cooked. Others claimed that the birds were released, and that there was a Kapu or restriction that required live release. Even if the birds were released, they would still be in a state of shock and risk injury. However, Hawaiian birds are relatively tame and unafraid when captured, and so might have survived handling better than most birds.
Settler impact
The birds were also popular with European collectors.European settlers changed the Mamo's habitat to support agriculture and cattle ranching, which damaged the bird's food source. The cattle roamed loose in the forests, destroying the understory ecosystem. Even though this was discovered early and was well known to the Hawaiians, the Mamo quickly disappeared.
Avian pox may have killed any birds that survived habitat destruction. There are many specimens of this bird in American and European museums. The bird seemed to disappear in 1899, but reports of this bird continued for a few more years. The last confirmed sighting was in 1899 near Kaumana on the island of Hawai'i by a collector, H. W. Henshaw, who, as mentioned by Tim Flannery
Tim Flannery
Timothy Fridtjof Flannery is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist and global warming activist....
in his book, A Gap In Nature, shot and wounded a bird he was stalking, before it escaped with another bird.
External links
- 3D view of specimen RMNH 110.030 at NaturalisNaturalisNaturalis is the national natural history museum of the Netherlands, based in Leiden. It originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie in 1984. In 1986 it was decided that the museum had to become a public museum and a new...
, Leiden (requires QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
browser plugin).