Chatham Raven

The Chatham - Raven ( Corvus moriorum ) is an extinct species of bird in the crow family birds. She felt on the Chatham Islands, and is known only from subfossilem material. The specific epithet refers to the Moriori, the first settlers on the Chatham Islands. The type material was discovered in January 1892 by Henry Ogg Forbes.

Features

The Chatham - raven was the largest known raven bird of the Australasian region and probably fourth or fifth largest songbird in the world. Henry Ogg Forbes described him as about a half times as large as the hooded crow. The weight was at 950 to 1000 grams. The relatively long tarsometatarsus presumably indicates to adapt to a better walking or running on the ground. However, like all ravens and crows he could fly well. The palatine bone was more ossified than the Ravens or the American crows in the northern hemisphere. The Chatham Raven had a long, broad bill, which was not as strongly curved like the beak of the Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis ).

The Neuhollandkrähe (C. coronoides ) is probably the most closely related living species, the original sister species is probably the New Zealand Maori Crow (C. antipodum ).

Way of life

Most bones were found on the coasts of the Chatham Islands. Therefore, it is possible that the Ravens have visited the penguin and Seebärenkolonien or went foraging in the Wadden Sea.

Extinction

Cause and time of extinction are unclear. Many bones were found in the middens of the Moriori, so it can be assumed that the species was hunted. When the Chatham Raven was a ground-nesting birds, it may have been easy for the introduced rats to recreate the chicks.