Passenger Pigeons

There were occasions in the 1800s in the United States and Canada when flocks of passenger pigeons numbering in the tens of millions took to the air, blocking the sun from the sky. Their population was estimated to number in the billions. The sheer weight of the pigeons trying to roost on the trees caused them to fall. Then they disappeared. In 1914, the final known passenger pigeon perished.

Hunters had an easy time getting the pigeons. The introduction of the telegraph and railroads meant the end of the birds because it was now simple for hunters to locate flocks. They were hunted, and people would literally pack the creatures into barrels and ship them away. This, combined with habitat loss, signalled their demise.

A organisation called Revive and Restore is trying to modify the band-tailed pigeon's genetics so that it can spawn passenger pigeons. Passenger pigeons could perhaps thrive once again once they've effectively rewritten the genetics of the band-tailed pigeon, which are already pretty similar to those of their extinct cousins.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: †Ectopistes
Species: †E. migratorius