Bahaman caracara explained

The Bahaman caracara (Caracara creightoni), also known as Creighton's caracara,[1] is an extinct bird of prey. It is known only from a few fossils discovered in the Bahamas and Cuba.[2] Caracara creightoni was a scavenger and opportunistic species instead of a predator like its sister extant species (C. plancus). It lived during the late Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene era. C. creightoni stood 58 cm tall, was short-winged and likely a poor flier. This species went extinct as a result of humans arriving on its home islands and wiping out the bird's prey species. A 2,500 year old C. creightoni femur from an Abaco Islands blue hole yielded a nearly complete mitochondrial genome.[3] The DNA shows that the species was closely related to the crested caracara. The two species last shared a common ancestor between 1.2 and 0.4 million years ago, during the Pleistocene.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Extinct Caribbean bird yields DNA after 2,500 years in watery grave. phys.org. en-us. 2019-08-20.
  2. Tumas, Alejandro; Hobbs, Amanda (August 2010), Todhunter, Andrew, ed., "Blue Holes of the Bahamas" in "Deep Dark Secrets", National Geographic 218 (2): insert.
  3. Oswald. Jessica A.. Allen. Julia M.. Witt. Kelsey E.. Folk. Ryan A.. Albury. Nancy A.. Steadman. David W.. Guralnick. Robert P.. 2019-11-01. Ancient DNA from a 2,500-year-old Caribbean fossil places an extinct bird (Caracara creightoni) in a phylogenetic context. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 140. 106576. 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106576. 31381968. 1055-7903.