The Réunion sheldgoose or Kervazo's Egyptian goose (''Alopochen kervazoi'') is an extinct species of

sheldgoose ''Chloephaga'' is a genus of sheldgeese in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Other Tadorninae, sheldgeese are found in the genera ''Alopochen'' and ''Neochen''. Taxonomy The genus ''Chloephaga'' was introduced in 1838 by the English natu ...

from

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

. It was a close relative of the

Egyptian goose The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is an African member of the Anatidae family including ducks, geese, and swans. Because of their popularity chiefly as an ornamental bird, the species has also been introduced to Europe, the United ...

and was about the same size. There is only one description remaining, that of Dubois made in 1674. Apart from that, the species is only known from brief reports and

subfossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

bones, collected by British ornithologist Graham S. Cowles. Dubois' full account reads as follows:

Extinction

Waterfowl on Réunion were overhunted. As early as 1667, François Martin complained of unsustainable hunting. The last record of the species is a 1709 listing of de la Merveille who stated that ducks and geese occurred "in quantity", but as

Jean Feuilley Jean Feuilley was a pilot engineer and cartographer who was sent to Réunion by the French East India Company to investigate the possibility of agricultural and marine exploitation. He arrived in the island in 1704 and the following year returned ...

had not listed waterfowl in his 1705 catalogue of Réunion's animals, de la Merveille's record is obviously based on obsolete hearsay information. Thus, the last record of the species appears to be the report of

Père Bernardin A name suffix in the Western English-language naming tradition, follows a person's surname (last name) and provides additional information about the person. Post-nominal letters indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, a ...

in 1687. The species probably became extinct during the 1690s.

References

Alopochen Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Geese Bird extinctions since 1500

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Birds described in 1994 {{Réunion-stub