Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 24 minutes ago
Martha died on September 1st, 1914. She was 29. Martha wasn’t your average Hollywood starlet – she was something even more rare: an endling, the last member of her species. Just a few hundred years earlier, passenger pigeons flocks were so large that they could literally darken the sky for hours. So how did we get from those numbers to extinction? And are they really gone for good?
Endlings portrait illustrations are by Zoe Keller. You can find out more about her and her work here: zoekeller.com
Find out more about the National Geographic Photo Ark here: joelsartore.com
youtube.com/@PhotoArk
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#BizarreBeasts #Endlings #extinction #passengerpigeon
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Sources:
biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103784#page/348/mode/1up
https://www.si.edu/object/martha-passenger-pigeon%3Asiris_sic_11640#:~:text=Mounted%20in%20a%20display%20case,in%20the%20conservation%20of%20wildlife
https://www.si.edu/spotlight/passenger-pigeon
audubon.org/magazine/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct
allianceforthebay.org/2024/05/an-empty-sky-the-plight-of-the-passenger-pigeon
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2044&context=american_birds
sfu.ca/geog315-new/readings/Ellsworth%282003%29.pdf
bbg.org/article/the_mysteries_of_masting_in_trees
naturemuseum.org/cas/project-passenger-pigeon
archive.org/details/passengerpigeoni0000scho/page/28/mode/2up?q=1910
web.archive.org/web/20160121214525/http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/featured_objects/martha2.html
https://www.si.edu/es/exhibitions/objects-wonder:event-exhib-5999
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/paspig/cur/conservation
britannica.com/science/de-extinction
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6265789/#sec2-genes-09-00548
portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/Rep-2016-009.pdf
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12705
rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/tauros
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093691X08007784
reviverestore.org/projects/about-the-passenger-pigeon
reviverestore.org/projects/the-great-passenger-pigeon-comeback/progress-to-date
archive.org/details/jstor-4071160/page/n9/mode/2up
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/1540-9295-12.6.315
mnland.org/2024/09/10/extinction-passenger-pigeon/#:~:text=The%20speed%20at%20which%20the,impact%20while%20they%20were%20here
https://library.si.edu/event/lecture-and-book-signing-joel-greenberg
------
Images:
docs.google.com/document/d/1g0JEjz77GSwkrpeYbnRYhG1xrl4n45Tmea7Sw0q0u0M/edit?tab=t.0
Martha died on September 1st, 1914. She was 29. Martha wasn’t your average Hollywood starlet – she was something even more rare: an endling, the last member of her species. Just a few hundred years earlier, passenger pigeons flocks were so large that they could literally darken the sky for hours. So how did we get from those numbers to extinction? And are they really gone for good?
Endlings portrait illustrations are by Zoe Keller. You can find out more about her and her work here: zoekeller.com
Find out more about the National Geographic Photo Ark here: joelsartore.com
youtube.com/@PhotoArk
Subscribe to the pin club here: https://complexly.store/products/bizarre-beasts-pin-subscription
You can cancel any time by emailing hello@dftba.com
Follow us on socials:
Instagram: instagram.com/bizarrebeastsshow
Facebook: facebook.com/BizarreBeastsShow
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bizarrebeastsshow.bsky.social
#BizarreBeasts #Endlings #extinction #passengerpigeon
-----
Sources:
biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103784#page/348/mode/1up
https://www.si.edu/object/martha-passenger-pigeon%3Asiris_sic_11640#:~:text=Mounted%20in%20a%20display%20case,in%20the%20conservation%20of%20wildlife
https://www.si.edu/spotlight/passenger-pigeon
audubon.org/magazine/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct
allianceforthebay.org/2024/05/an-empty-sky-the-plight-of-the-passenger-pigeon
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2044&context=american_birds
sfu.ca/geog315-new/readings/Ellsworth%282003%29.pdf
bbg.org/article/the_mysteries_of_masting_in_trees
naturemuseum.org/cas/project-passenger-pigeon
archive.org/details/passengerpigeoni0000scho/page/28/mode/2up?q=1910
web.archive.org/web/20160121214525/http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/featured_objects/martha2.html
https://www.si.edu/es/exhibitions/objects-wonder:event-exhib-5999
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/paspig/cur/conservation
britannica.com/science/de-extinction
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6265789/#sec2-genes-09-00548
portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/Rep-2016-009.pdf
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12705
rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/tauros
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093691X08007784
reviverestore.org/projects/about-the-passenger-pigeon
reviverestore.org/projects/the-great-passenger-pigeon-comeback/progress-to-date
archive.org/details/jstor-4071160/page/n9/mode/2up
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/1540-9295-12.6.315
mnland.org/2024/09/10/extinction-passenger-pigeon/#:~:text=The%20speed%20at%20which%20the,impact%20while%20they%20were%20here
https://library.si.edu/event/lecture-and-book-signing-joel-greenberg
------
Images:
docs.google.com/document/d/1g0JEjz77GSwkrpeYbnRYhG1xrl4n45Tmea7Sw0q0u0M/edit?tab=t.0
