It happened again, as it is now happening repeatedly at impressive rates. Another species was declared extinct by scienceexcluding any possibility that it is still present in nature.
It’s about the curlew, Numenius tenuirostris, a migratory bird distributed in 3 continents, Europe, Africa and Asia, but which now seems to have disappeared forever from its extensive range.
This is what emerges from a scientific study recently published in the magazine IBIS, International Journal of Avian Science. The publication traces the conservation efforts of this rare species classified as critically endangered, evaluating the probability of extinction.
In fact, scholars hypothesize that there is no longer any specimen of curlew in nature. The last sightings date back to 1995. Since then nothing more, despite intensive and extensive searches to identify traces of the migrant.
Based on the guidelines of the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Framework, scientists have developed a model with a probability of extinction of 96.0%.
During the research, two survey methods were applied which examined the main threats and reports of the curlew, estimating 1995 as the year of extinction. At least until 23 February 1995, the curlew was observed at Merja Zerga, a famous bird site in western Morocco.

Experts point out that it is impossible to know exactly which threats have definitively affected the extinction of the species. However, the main ones are known to all and have a common origin having to do directly with anthropic activities. In fact, in the text of the scientific work we read that:
Habitat loss in breeding and non-breeding areas and hunting have been identified as pressures on the species.”
As with the Javan ray, the first fish to become extinct due to man’s fault, once again we are the authors of the destruction of biodiversity. Now the status of the curlew will also have to be subject to review.