Delalande's coua (''Coua delalandei''), also known as the snail-eating coua or Delalande's coucal, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of non-parasitic

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. It was only known to science as an extant bird for a very short time in the early 19th century. There is some disagreement about its area of occurrence: Although there were claims that the bird was also found in the area of Fito and

Maroantsetra Maroantsetra , formerly Louisbourg, is a market town and domestic seaport in Analanjirofo Region, Madagascar, at the northern end of the Bay of Antongil. In 2018, Maroantsetra counted 42,529 people. Even though it is a small city, Maroantsetra ...

as well as near

Toamasina Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French language, French Tamatave or in the past as Port aux prunes, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief ...

(Tamatave), i.e., the coastal areas of northern

Toamasina Province The Toamasina Province is a former provinces of Madagascar, province of Madagascar with an area of 71,911 km2. It had a population of 2,855,600 (2004). Its capital was Toamasina, the most important seaport of the country. The province was also ...

, all specimens with good locality data are from the offshore island of Nosy Boraha. As the vernacular name implies,

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s were a favored food item of this species.

Extinction

Of the 14 specimens that exist nowadays, all but two are known to have taken between 1827 and 1834, many by the surgeon and naturalist Chevalier Joseph Alphonse Bernier. The

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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specimen was in the collection of the

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

before that date, and one specimen may have been taken as late as 1850. As this species - the second-largest

coua Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Couas are reminiscent of African turacos when walking along tree branches, and they likewise feature brightly coloured bare skin around the eyes ...

extant in modern times - was very spectacular, it was much sought after as a museum piece. However, it probably was restricted to coastal rainforest on Nosy Boraha, and its habitat was largely destroyed by

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

in the course of the 19th century. Introduction of

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

s may also have contributed to its demise, probably less by direct predation than by competition for food, but there probably was a thriving rat population on Nosy Boraha as soon as 1700, considering that the island was a favorite place for pirates to overhaul. Cats, which would have preyed on the bird, were probably introduced only in the 19th century and make a more likely candidate for an introduced species that had a negative impact on Delalande's coua. There are some reports that the locals on the adjacent mainland were still occasionally hunting this bird for its decorative plumage in the 1920s, but these seem in error, these records probably referring to the blue coua. What is known with certainty is that in 1932, large sums were offered to well-connected animal dealers in

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

for specimens of Delalande's coua, but they were unable to procure any. The color pattern of the species is unique among couas, which may be a hint that it evolved in fact in the isolation of Nosy Boraha and never occurred anywhere else. Specimens from "Tamatave" probably just indicate their port of shipment or the location of the animal dealer who procured them.

References

* Temminck, Coenraad Jacob (1827): 'Coccycus delalandei'' ''In: Nouveau recueil de planches coloriees d'oiseaux, etc.'' 74: plate 440. Strasbourg & Amsterdam.

External links

3D view
of specimen RMNH 110.100 at

Naturalis Naturalis Biodiversity Center () is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively ...

, Leiden (requires

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browser plugin). {{Taxonbar, from=Q279670 Delalande's coua Extinct birds of Madagascar Delalande's coua Bird extinctions since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities Articles containing video clips Fauna of the Madagascar lowland forests