led woodpeckers managed to persist in eastern Cuba until at least 1987. However, the last unconfirmed sighting occurred in northeastern Cuba in 1991, and ivory-billed woodpeckers are now presumed extirpated in Cuba.
The IUCN currently lists ivory-billed woodpeckers as critically endangered, after having listing them as threatened in 1988, extinct in 1994, and critically endangered in 2000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists them as endangered. (BirdLife International, 2004; Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2005; Fitzpatrick, et al., Published online April 28, 2005; Garrido, 1985; Jackson, 2002; Lamb, 1958; U.S. Department of the Interior, et al., 2005)
There are two recognized supspecies of ivory-billed woodpecker: Campephilus principalis principalis, the U.S. subspecies, and Campephilus principalis bairdii, the Cuban subspecies, which is now presumed extinct. The Cuban subspecies is distingued by its smaller size, white stripe that extends further forward on the head, and smaller nasal tufts.
It is unknown how ivory-billed woodpeckers arrived in Cuba. It is possible that they arrived on their own during the Pleistocene glaciation, when sea levels were lower. Some have suggested that they might have been introduced through human actions.
The fossil record of ivory-billed woodpeckers is sparse, but their bones have been excavated at archaeological sites as far north as Illinois and Ohio, emphasizing how important these birds were as items of trade for Native Americans. (Jackson, 2002)
Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Allison Poor (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
uses sound to communicate
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
humans benefit economically by promoting tourism that focuses on the appreciation of natural areas or animals. Ecotourism implies that there are existing programs that profit from the appreciation of natural areas or animals.
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
Having one mate at a time.
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
generally wanders from place to place, usually within a well-defined range.
an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
breeding is confined to a particular season
remains in the same area
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
associates with other