Episode 1183
Rodrigues rail
Fri, 2020-Jul-31 00:52 UTC
Length - 2:20
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Friday, 31 July 2020 is Rodrigues rail.
The Rodrigues rail (Erythromachus leguati), also known as Leguat's gelinote or Leguat's rail, is an extinct species of the rail family that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is generally kept in its own genus, Erythromachus, but has sometimes been assigned to the genus Aphanapteryx along with its close relative the red rail (A. bonasia) of Mauritius; their relationship with other rails is unclear. The Rodrigues rail was about 35 cm (14 in) long and weighed at least 500 g (18 oz). It was described as having grey plumage, a red beak, red legs, and a naked red patch around the eye. The beak was long and decurved. It was flightless and fed on tortoise eggs. It was described as being attracted to red objects, which humans exploited while hunting it.
The Rodrigues rail is believed to have become extinct in the mid-18th century because of predation by introduced cats and destruction of its habitat by tortoise hunters. The bird was first documented from life by two contemporaneous accounts; first by François Leguat, a French Huguenot refugee marooned on Rodrigues in 1691, and then by Julien Tafforet, marooned on the island in 1726. Subfossil remains were later discovered and connected with the old accounts in 1874, and the species was named E. leguati in Leguat's honour.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:52 UTC on Friday, 31 July 2020.
For the full current version of the article, see Rodrigues rail on Wikipedia.
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