# What killed off the Ivory Billed Woodpecker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378 "2002-06-11T03:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/1 "2002-06-11T03:08:13Z")
Per [this MSNBC article](http://www.msnbc.com/news/712257.asp?0dm=C15MT) what happened to this giant woodpecker with the yard wide wingspan. Hunting/collecting or loss of habitat? Can we clone one from a 60-70 year old stuffed specimen or is the integrity of the DNA too far gone? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/2 "2002-06-11T03:26:32Z")
According to [this 1995 article](http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/feature/ivory.html), it appears that loss of habitat (extensive logging of swamp forests in the U.S. and Cuba) was primarily responsible, though [this FAQ](http://birds.cornell.edu/ivory/) also mentions that collecting for museums put further strain on the species. Couldn’t tell you about the cloning, though. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/3 "2002-06-11T03:43:03Z")
It seems that the loss of a specialized habitat, old growth forest with a swampy habitat, contributed to the Ivory-bills (possible?) demise. While these habitats still do exist, I imagine they became too fragmented at one time to support this large (and apparently reclusive) species. Is the Ivory-bill gone from the contiguous US? Well, the 1999 account sounded pretty convincing to me that Kulivan saw two of them. His description of the field marks were on target. As far as the DNA is concerned…I dunno. (On preview, I see I’m echoing **Darwin’s Finch**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/4 "2002-06-11T04:19:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* > this FAQalso mentions that collecting for museums put further strain on the species. > \*\* Hey! That’s my claim to fame. My ancestor [Edward Hart](http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/biology/collectors/hart1.html) made an entire species extinct doing the same thing. Oh, happy Victorian times were so innocent.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/5 "2002-06-11T05:57:46Z")
Why has the ivory billed woodpecker been publicised so much recently? The National Geographic Channel keeps running stories on them on their ‘Today’ show. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/6 "2002-06-11T12:41:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wikkit \* > \*\*Why has the ivory billed woodpecker been publicised so much recently? The National Geographic Channel keeps running stories on them on their ‘Today’ show. \*\* It’s an intriguing mystery – are they extinct or not? There’s been no cofirmed sightings in over half a century, but lately, people are claiming that they may have seen or heard them. The reports are solid enough to warrant investigation, but so far, nothing has turned up. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/7 "2002-06-11T14:51:21Z")
I think they should be ashamed of themselves. Imagine using ivory for your bill! Don’t they know they’re supporting elephant poachers? RR ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/8 "2002-06-11T17:45:26Z")
[Results of a recent search](http://www.birdingamerica.com/cornellpr.htm) [Cuban sitings in 1986](http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/feature/ivory.html) [Accounts of some of the last sitings by skilled birders](http://www.juliezickefoose.com/articles/ivory_billed_wp.html) [National Geographic article](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0220_0220_newwoodpecker.html) There are still extensive pine forests – but very few undisturbed ones. I have hopes that the Great Dismal Swamp may have a few specimens. But the land around here is a mixture of farmland, exurban residential, and woodland, including some old second-growth mixed forests that have gotten back to climax, more or less. When Raleigh had the record snowfall a while ago, we were visited twice by pileated woodpeckers. To see one of them is simply amazing – it’s like somebody has made a two-foot-long enlargement of a slenderer, longer-beaked Woody Woodpecker and stuck it on a tree – and then it starts moving around! After I was able to get out and go to work, my wife saw a third big woodpecker – and her description matched the ivorybill, not the pileated. Now the front yard of a house on a country road 25 miles from a couple of large cities is so highly unlikely a place to see a vanishingly rare bird that I am skeptical. But it may be that they are simply adapting to a different environment – and staying well within thickets that hold their econiche unless something like a major storm causes them to look elsewhere. Here’s the Georgia Wildlife [field guide description](http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/birds/piciformes/cprincipalis.html). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/9 "2002-06-11T19:13:32Z")
I saw what looked like an IBWP from a distance in the Chattahoochee National Forest in NW Georgia in the 80’s. I tried to get a closer look, but every time I eased a bit closer, it eased a bit further away. I’m familiar with the pileated WP, and don’t think that’s what I was seeing. The bird I saw was bigger, with more black. And it was definitely a woodpecker, as it was perching on the sides of trees. But as I say, I couldn’t get a close look at the thing. It would be nice to think there might still be a few scattered about. As to what caused their demise(?), I’m sure hunters helped as well. There are (unfortunately) a lot of hunters with a shoot-anything-that-moves mentality, and I’m sure the IBWP was a nice, big inviting target. This same mentality has caused the loss of several golden eagles that have been released in NW Georgia, to be later found dead or injured with gunshot wounds. Pileated woodpeckers are also pretty spectacular, as Poly notes. They’re usually pretty shy, but I saw a bold one a couple of weeks ago. I was driving in a wooded area, and he was sitting on a stump right beside the road, working the deadwood for beetles. I stopped the car less than five feet away from him, and he just kept at his task. Got a nice long look at him. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/10 "2002-06-11T19:47:55Z")
I guess I should clarify my last post. The head of the bird I spotted years ago was blacker than that of a pileated woodpecker. It appeared to have a black crest, which I think is found on the female ivory billed woodpecker, but not on the pileated. It looked like the female depicted [here](http://www.wlf.state.la.us/apps/netgear/index.asp?cn=lawlf&pid=886). But I couldn’t get a close enough look to be certain. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/11 "2002-06-11T19:53:34Z")
I guess I should clarify my last post. The head of the bird I spotted years ago was blacker than that of a pileated woodpecker. It appeared to have a black crest, which I think is found on the female ivory billed woodpecker, but not on the pileated. It looked like the female depicted [here](http://www.wlf.state.la.us/apps/netgear/index.asp?cn=lawlf&pid=886). But I couldn’t get a close enough look to be certain. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-killed-off-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/113378/12 "2002-06-12T03:10:47Z")
“What killed off the Ivory Billed Woodpecker?” Loss of habitat. Collecting for museums is inconsequential unless the species is already dying out from some other cause. (How many museums are there, anyway?) Even hunting is not very effective for killing off such an elusive bird unless hunters are well motivated by a bounty or the value of their prey.