The Natural History Museum has always been one of my favourite places in London. As an institution, it has been intertwined with the development of our understanding of the natural world for the last three hundred years. The very building itself is a monument to the discovery and reverence of nature. Also although it has some great displays, it’s what goes on behind the scenes that is most fascinating and so I was very excited to see a new series begin on BBC2 about the Museum and the people who work there (Museum of Life, BBC 2, Thursday 8pm).
 

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By Paquita Hoeck, Zoological Museum, University of Zürich

The Floreana Mockingbird is one of the rarest birds in the world and occurs only on two tiny islets off the coast of Floreana Island: Gardner-por-Floreana (81 ha) and Champion (9.5 ha) islands, in the Galápagos. Although the species was recorded on the island of Floreana by Charles Darwin in 1835, the last specimen collected on Floreana itself was in 1852 and the last reported sighting here was in 1868. The mockingbird was probably extinct on Floreana island by 1888, when it was searched for and not found, and remains only on the two islets. Extinction from Floreana has been attributed to an island-wide fire in 1819, human hunting, predation by dogs or cats, disappearance of the prickly pear cactus Opuntia megasperma, a favoured place to nest and a source of food, caused by goats, or more likely, predation at the nest by introduced Black Rats. Population estimates from a 2007 survey were: 38 birds on Champion and 98 on Gardner-por-Floreana.

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