| Guadalupe Caracara |
Article Index for Guadalupe |
Limousines in Guadalupe |
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Information AboutGuadalupe Caracara |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GUADALUPE CARACARA | |
| birds of prey | |
| caracaras | |
| extinct birds | |
| polyborus | |
| natural history of mexico | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
The Guadalupe Caracara (''Polyborus lutosus'') is an extinct member of the Raptor family of birds. It inhabited Mexico 's Guadalupe Island until the beginning of the 20th Century . Specimens are available for display in Chicago , Washington , and London . The Crested Caracara is commonly incorrectly referred to as a Guadalupe Caracara. It was described as evil and vicious by early observers. It was driven to extinction by a hunting and poisoning campaign led by goatherders on Guadalupe Island. The last living specimen were recorded shot on 1 December 1900 by collector Rollo Beck ; it seems that he killed all birds he encountered except two, believing from their fearlessness that they were common. There was one more (unconfirmed) sighting in 1903 . The Guadelupe Caracara is one of the few species that were intentionally made extinct; in its particular case, it was demanded by goat farmers that the birds were to be killed off as they occasionally fed on young goats. While the role of ''Polyborus lutosus'' as a predator of goats was much exaggerated, it stands to note that its erstwhile home was later devastated by tens of thousands of goats gone feral, leading to the extinction of numerous other species caused by the near-total destruction of habitat. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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