Domestic cat Tibbles has caused irreparable damage to nature. How did it happen?
In 1895, a new bird species was discovered on Stevens Island, and in the same year it was declared extinct. Moreover, the species became extinct thanks to one domestic cat.
Previously, the Stephenian shrub wrens (Xenicus lyalli) were common throughout New Zealand. These songbirds could not fly, but only ran on the ground. After some time, migrants from the South Pacific Islands came to New Zealand and brought rats with them. Of course, Stephen's wrens became easy prey for these rodents and were soon almost exterminated. But still the last population of these birds remained - on the small New Zealand island of Stevens. There the wrens had no enemies for a long time.
Stevens Island (view from a neighboring island).
However, in 1894, a lighthouse was built on the island, on which the caretaker David Lyell, who brought his cat Tibbles with him, began to work. The cat began to hunt small birds and sometimes brought prey to its owner. And he once saved several birds and handed them over to scientists. And in 1895 a new species of New Zealand wrens was described. But by this time not a single representative of this species was left: they were exterminated by the only predator on the island.