Incas (before 1885 – February 21, 1918) was a male
Carolina parakeet
The Carolina parakeet (''Conuropsis carolinensis''), or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face and pale beak that was native to the eastern, Midwest and plains sta ...
and the
last member of his species known with certainty. Though probable sightings of wild Carolina parakeets continued into the 1930s, and the
American Ornithologists Union
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...
accepted a sighting in 1920, no specimens were collected after 1904 and he is often cited as the last individual in existence. Incas died in the
Cincinnati Zoo in 1918, in the same enclosure as
Martha
Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness ...
, the last
passenger pigeon
The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (''Ectopistes migratorius'') is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word ''passager'', meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habits ...
, who died in 1914.
[ He died within one year of his mate, Lady Jane.
]
Background
The Carolina parakeet
The Carolina parakeet (''Conuropsis carolinensis''), or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face and pale beak that was native to the eastern, Midwest and plains sta ...
was the only parrot species historically native to eastern North America and was documented to be plentiful in early accounts. Over the centuries following European colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short t ...
a combination of factors including collection for hat feathers, the pet trade
Wildlife trade refers to the of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, ti ...
, and eradication by farmers due to their reputation as crop predators, led the Carolina parakeet to become increasingly rare by the mid 19th century.[ As numbers declined, conservationists and bird interest groups became increasingly concerned about the species's trajectory. By 1900, multiple breeding programs had been established for the Carolina parakeet with limited success but there was allegedly no coordination between zoos with captive birds.] As the number of individual wild birds dwindled, the only certain locations of the Carolina parakeet were in captivity.[
]
Life
Incas was brought to the Cincinnati Zoo in 1885 in an attempt to establish a captive breeding population there. He was purchased along with 15 other birds for a sum of $40 (equivalent to $1200 in 2022). Around that time, captive birds were often sold to Europe and the majority of Carolina parakeets in the pet trade were sourced in Florida with dozens at a time captured into the 1890s.[ At the zoo, Incas was housed in an aviary in the style of a ]Japanese pagoda
Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a ''gorintō''
Pagodas in Japan are called , sometimes or and historically derive from the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian ''stupa''. Like the ''stupa'', pagodas were origi ...
that was built in 1875.
Incas was eventually paired with a female bird named Lady Jane who arrived in the same cohort. They were successful in laying eggs regularly over 32 years together, but they consistently rolled the eggs from their nest.[ While the couple was still together, the London Zoo offered $400 (over $10,000 in 2022) for the pair.][ Given established knowledge about Carolina parakeet breeding habits, it is most likely that the birds produced two or three eggs per clutch once each year. Lady Jane, the penultimate captive bird reportedly died at least aged 32 in late summer 1917. Zookeepers in Cincinnati alleged that afterwards Incas became "listless and mournful".][ At some point after September 1914, possibly after Lady Jane's death, Incas was allegedly moved into the same pagoda enclosure that Martha died in.][ In the 48 hours before Incas's death on the evening of February 21, 1918, Cincinnati experienced unseasonably cold weather with snowfall and night-time temperatures down to .][
]
Legacy
After dying, and like Martha, Incas was supposed to be sent in a block of ice to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
. For unclear reasons, his skin never arrived there. Though it is likely that he was preserved (as his skin would have had considerable value to a museum), it appears associated records were never kept and the current location of his body is unknown. Some have speculated that his remains are unlabeled at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History.[ Others have considered that in the closing year of ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the loss of the last captive Carolina parakeet was simply too demoralizing to pay close attention to.[ Incas's status as the last member of his species is often repeated without scrutiny of the highly probable persistence of wild populations into the 1930s.] His death date is also periodically miscited as that of the last passenger pigeon.[
]
References
{{Reflist
External links
Forever Gone: The Tale of the Carolina Parakeet By J. Drew Lanham
Cincinnati Zoo Blog: Conservation Responsibility
Carolina Parakeets: Gone but not Forgotten in The Sun Journal
1918 animal deaths
Endlings
Individual animals in the United States
Individual parrots