The Iwo Jima rail or white-browed crake (''Poliolimnas cinereus brevipes'') was a

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

native to the island of Iwo Jima. The last reported sightings were in 1924, and the species is believed to be extinct. It was a subspecies of the

white-browed crake The white-browed crake (''Poliolimnas cinereus'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is found in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the ...

Description

The Iwo Jima rail was coloured dark brown, with black mottles on its back, and a white colouration on its belly. The bird was typically about six inches long.

Ecology

The species ''cinereus'' was typically found in both

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

water and fresh water marshes. Iwo Jima, however, lacked these features, and the Iwo Jima subspecies lived in the brush and tall grass along rivulets on the island, as well as damp places within the original forest cover.

Extinction

When humans settled the island of Iwo Jima, they cleared away the existing

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

to grow sugarcane. The forest clearance reduced the availability of fresh water, which forced the bird to come into the settlements to find water during the dry season. Here the birds often fell pray to

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s. Combined with the introduction of rats to the island, this caused the extinction of the bird. The last specimen of the bird was collected in 1911, and the last reported sightings were by T. T. Moniyama in 1924.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q188331 Extinct birds of Oceania Amaurornis Controversial bird taxa Extinct animals of Japan