Passenger pigeon

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/passenger-pigeon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Ectopora migratoria
2. What is the diet?Omnivore; predominantly mast crops (acorns, beechnuts), seeds, berries, and occasionally insects
3. What was the Passenger Pigeon and how many were there?The Passenger Pigeon was a huge bird that lived in eastern North America. At its peak, scientists think there were between 3 and 5 billion of them, making it the most common bird on Earth.
4. Why did the Passenger Pigeon disappear?The pigeons vanished because people hunted them very hard and cut down their forest homes. The loss of food and places to nest made it hard for the birds to have babies, so the numbers fell fast.

Allee Effect: A phenomenon where a population's per capita growth rate decreases as population density decreases.
Mast Crops: The fruits or nuts of trees, such as acorns and beechnuts, that are a food source for wildlife.
Conservation Biology: The scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting the natural world.