1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Hey listeners, quick heads up. We have our one thousandth 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: episode coming up and we are going to have a 3 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,239 Speaker 1: little celebration on Facebook Live on March one, So come 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: over to our Facebook which is at Facebook dot com 5 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: slash missed in History for more details. Welcome to Steph 6 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: you missed in History class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello, 7 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry. On February one, eighteen, a bird named 9 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: Incas died at the Cincinnati Zoo. Incas was a Carolina 10 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: parakeet and his mate Lady Jane, had died the year before. 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: They were the last of their species. In the nine nineties, 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: physician Robert Webster of Jasper, Georgia coined a name for 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: the last living member of a species, which was endling, 14 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: and so word he realized the need for while he 15 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: was treating a patient who told him that she was 16 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: the last living member of her family line. Endling isn't 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: in Miriam Webster or the Oxford English Dictionary as of 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,199 Speaker 1: when we are recording the show, but it's been picked 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: up by museums and journals and magazines and their discussions 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: of last animals, especially ones that people cared enough about 21 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: to name and then write about them when they died. 22 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: So a few other examples of these endlings are booming 23 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: ben the heath hen, who was last seen on Martha's Vineyard, 24 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: Massachusetts on March eleventh, ninety two. Benjamin, the last Tasmanian tiger, 25 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: died on September seventh, nineteen thirty six, at the Hobart 26 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: Zoo in Tasmania. And some of these are really recent. Toffy, 27 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: who was the last known RABS fringe limbed tree frog, 28 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: died on September at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Frog Pod 29 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: Laboratory for Amphibian Conservation. So since we're coming up on 30 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: the centennial of its extinction today, we're going to talk 31 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: about the Carolina parakeet, along with two other endlings who 32 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: were marked, the Passenger pigeon and Lonesome George, the Penta 33 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: Island tortoise. Just in case not clear, uh, this episode 34 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: would get the I think they've changed the way they 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,839 Speaker 1: do these ratings, but it used to be at does 36 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: the Dog Die dot Com there would be a sad 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: face of a dog if the dog died. This This 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: would have like all sad faces. This whole episode is 39 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: about animals dying. Yeah uh. Once upon a time, Eastern 40 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: North America had its own native parrot species Conopsis carol 41 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: nnensis that are known as the Carolina parakeet or sometimes 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the Carolina parrot. A subspecies, Conopsis carolinensis ludovicianus was sometimes 43 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: known as the Louisiana parakeet, but in writings about them, 44 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: they're generally grouped together just as the Carolina parakeet. It 45 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: is not clear who coined the term Carolina parakeet, but 46 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: it was sometime after the Carolina Colony was chartered in 47 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty three. The birds first mentions in writing date 48 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: back to the fifteen eighties, obviously without the Carolina moniker 49 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: as part of them. In sixteen twelve, William Strachey described 50 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: them this way in the History of Travel into Virginia, Britannia. 51 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: Quote paraketos. I have seen many in the winter, and 52 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: known diverse killed. Yet they be a foul, most swift 53 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: of wing. Their wings and breasts are of a greenish color, 54 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: with forked tails. Their heads some crimson, some yellow, some orange, tawny. 55 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: Very beautiful. You'll just have to imagine the seventeenth century 56 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: spelling of that passage, because it's delightful, it is, and 57 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: it's one of those great examples that reminds me of 58 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: the episode we did about how language shifts and the 59 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: rules are made up, because there's some fast and loose 60 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: spelling that changes from mentioned to mention there and I 61 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: love it. My favorite is that they are very b 62 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: e a U T y f u l L. It's 63 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: like the way little kids say beauty beautiful. Um. Of course, 64 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: North America's indigenous people already had their own names for 65 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: these birds, and they're represented in indigenous art going back 66 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: to prehistory, including in pipes and calcite and hematite ornaments. 67 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: Their feathers and other parts were also used in native 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: clothing and ornaments. Most sources described the bird's range is 69 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: covering almost all of the eastern United States, but research 70 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: that was published in twenty seventeen suggests that the Carolina 71 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: and Louisiana subspecies really had smaller ranges that didn't really 72 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: overlap each other very much. According to this research, Carolina 73 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: parakeets lived all through Florida and then in coastal regions 74 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: from Texas up to Virginia. Louisiana parakeets lived in the 75 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,280 Speaker 1: central part of the country in a squarish blob with 76 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: the southwest corner in central Texas and the northeast corner 77 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,559 Speaker 1: in central oh Hio. These were bright green birds, roughly 78 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: twelve inches or thirty centimeters long. Juveniles were green all over, 79 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: and as they matured their heads turned yellow, with little 80 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: reddish orange masks along their eyes, running down beside their 81 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: beaks and across the tops of their heads. And the 82 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: words of James Hall, writing in eighteen thirty eight, they 83 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: were quote a bird of beautiful plumage, but very bad character. 84 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: But their character probably got a lot worse after the 85 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: arrival of European colonists in North America. Really yearned to 86 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: know what gave them? Were they just sassy? Where they 87 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,040 Speaker 1: really they talk about food. That's the next thing that 88 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: we're talking about. I like it. It's like a far 89 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: side cartoon, right with like the birds from the wrong 90 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: side of the tracks kind of thing in my head. 91 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: That's how this plays out. Carolina parakeets ate fruit plants, 92 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: some insects, and a lot of seeds, and they were 93 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 1: particularly fond of cockle burr's seeds, so Cocklebers are native 94 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: to North America, but they're invasive in other parts of 95 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: the world, and even in North America, these plants are 96 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: annoying since they're covered in prickly, clinging seed ponds. Cocklebers 97 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: didn't really run rampant in pre colonial forests, but once 98 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: colonists started clearing those fors for farmlands, they thrived in 99 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: the disturbed soil. The plants themselves could choke out crops 100 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: and make them difficult to harvest, and the birds could 101 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: ruin sheep's wool and cause problems for other livestock. Cocklebert 102 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: seeds contain a glucocide that's toxic to mammals, but Carolina 103 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,559 Speaker 1: parakeets love to grab one with claw, eat the seeds 104 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: out of the middle of it, and then dropped the 105 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: prickly part on the ground. Carolina parakeets love of these 106 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 1: seeds made them useful for cocklebert control and for control 107 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: of the similarly annoying sand spur, which they also liked 108 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: to eat. But European colonists also we're planting orchards of 109 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: fruit trees, and the parakeets treated these crops exactly the 110 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: same way that they treated coppers. They grabbed the fruit 111 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: with a foot, pecked the seeds out of it, and 112 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: then threw the ruined fruit down on the ground. That 113 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: is their bad characters, litter bugs. They're wasteful. I somehow 114 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: feel guilty also joking about it. MI stinct species. I don't. 115 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna put this away now. Uh. Carolina parakeets went 116 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: after cultivated fields of corn and other grains as well, 117 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: spoiling more food than they ate. John James Audubon described 118 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: them as covering fields of stacked grains so completely that 119 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: they looked like a bright carpet. On top of all 120 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: this crop destruction, Carolina parakeets were highly social, gregarious birds 121 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: that traveled in huge, noisy flocks and left lots of 122 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: droppings behind, so a lot of colonists thought they were 123 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: an enormous nuisance. Farmers hunted them aggressively to keep them 124 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: away from crops, and people also hunted them for food 125 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: and for their feathers. That very vibrant, beautiful plumage made 126 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,239 Speaker 1: them really popular among milliners. The bird's own behavior also 127 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: made them easy targets. They congregated in large flocks and 128 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: they would fly off at the sound of gunfire. But 129 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: then all the birds would return to the same spot, 130 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: especially if they heard one of their own injured. There 131 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: By the early nineteenth century, the Carolina parakeets numbers where 132 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: an obvious decline. John J. Audubon published his Birds of 133 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: America in Installments from eighteen seven to eighteen thirty eight, 134 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: and in that book he described the decline as recent. 135 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: He said that they had been plentiful years before. In 136 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: this drop in population can't really be pinned on just 137 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: one cause. In addition to the relentless hunting, the birds 138 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: lost huge amounts of habitats through deforestation, especially after the 139 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: Cotton gin made cotton a profitable crop in the South. 140 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: It's also possible that the birds were forced out of 141 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: nesting sites after the introduction of honey bees to North America. 142 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: There was never a formal study of these birds in 143 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: the wild, so there is a bit of debate about 144 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 1: whether they nested in hollow trees like honey bees do, 145 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: or if they built nest sound of sticks, or if 146 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: they possibly did some of both. In the last few 147 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: decades of their existence, Carolina parakeets were viewed as much 148 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: less of a nuisance. Their numbers had dropped to the 149 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: point that their control of cockle BER's outweighed their potential 150 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: damage to crops. Farmers were more inclined to just let 151 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: them be, which may have ultimately led to their extinction. 152 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: We really don't know what tipped the scale from a 153 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: reduced population to one that was actively dying out, but 154 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: one theory is that Carolina parakeets contracted a viral disease 155 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: from domesticated poultry, and that only would have been possible 156 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: after they were allowed to hang around farms instead of 157 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: being shot on site. In nineteen o four, the last 158 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: known wild Carolina parakeet was killed in Okachobee County, Florida. 159 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: Carolina parakeets were easy to keep as pets, although they 160 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: could not be trained to talk. Breeding pairs and small 161 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,079 Speaker 1: groups also lived in zoos on both sides of the 162 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: Atlantic until the early twentieth century, and they had been 163 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,439 Speaker 1: brandon captivity since eighteen seventy seven. There wasn't any sort 164 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,959 Speaker 1: of organized breeding program to try to repopulate the species 165 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: or create a genetically diverse breeding pool. At the Cincinnati Zoo, 166 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,319 Speaker 1: Incus and Lady Jane produced several eggs, but they tended 167 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: to throw them out of the nest. And they weren't 168 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: retrieved or incubated. After Incus's death on February twenty one, 169 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, it took a while to confirm that the 170 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: species really was extinct. The official determination came in nineteen 171 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: thirty nine, following a national Audubon Society search of South 172 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: Carolina after a purported sighting there. None of these reported 173 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: sightings were ever substantiated, and a few of them turned 174 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: out to be feral parents or parakeets that had previously 175 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: been somebody's pets and had wound up out in the wild. 176 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: I grew up in North Carolina, and I always as 177 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: a child having heard about the Carolina parakeet, the fact 178 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: that I was from North Carolina and that they were 179 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: from North Carolina, and when the name Carolina parakeet meant 180 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: that were my personal species of parakeet that was now extinct, 181 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: and I was very put out about that. Uh. And 182 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 1: when Incus died, it was purportedly in the same cage 183 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: where Martha, the last passenger pigeon, had also died. And 184 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Martha and passenger pigeons in general. 185 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: After we first paused for a little sponsor break, Passenger 186 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: pigeons or ectoscopies migratorists used to be the most common 187 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: bird and what's now the United States. Their winter range 188 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 1: stretched from eastern Canada down to Florida that went all 189 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: across the Mississippi River, covering more than half of the continent. 190 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: They're breeding range was a smaller pocket, primarily around the 191 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: Great Lakes and what's now New York. Male passenger pigeons 192 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: were blue gray with a rosy pink throat and chest. 193 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: They were about sixteen and a half inches that's about 194 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: forty two centimeters in length, and females were slightly smaller 195 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: and not as distinctively colored. They were closer to brown 196 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: gray than blue gray, and they had more subdued coloring 197 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: on their throat and chest. They looked enough like mourning 198 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: doves that this often led to cases of mistaken identity, 199 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: although passenger pigeons were usually a couple of inches larger 200 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: than mourning doves. The eight nuts acorns, seeds, and berries, 201 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: along with some worms and insects in the spring and summer. 202 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: So when we say the most common bird, it's estimated 203 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: that before European arrival in North America, there were between 204 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: three and five billion of them, that is billion, with 205 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: a bee making up between twenty five and of all 206 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: the birds in the places where they lived. They formed 207 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: enormous colonies, with up to a hundred nests in an 208 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: individual tree. Sometimes so many birds would nest in a 209 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: tree that branches would snap off of it or the 210 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: tree itself would fall. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 211 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: missionary Aambriel Sagartiadat described their numbers as infinite multitudes, and 212 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: Cotton Mother wrote about mild wide flocks that took hours 213 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: to pass overhead. Here's how John J. Audubon described a 214 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: flock he saw in eighteen thirteen quote, The air was 215 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: literally filled with pigeons. The light of noonday was obscured 216 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: as buy an eclipse. The dung fell in spots, not 217 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: unlike melting flakes of snow, and the continued buzz of 218 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: the wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose. 219 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,720 Speaker 1: An eighteen fifty five account from Columbus, Ohio described the 220 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: local response to the passing of an enormous pigeon flock. Quote. 221 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: Children screamed and ran for home. Women gathered their long 222 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: skirts and hurried for the shelter of stores, horses bolted, 223 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: a few people mumbled frightened words about the approach of 224 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 1: the millennium, and several dropped onto their knees and prayed. 225 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 1: According to this account, this flocks passage took two hours. 226 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: There have been a number of remarks about like we 227 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: don't have any kind of pictures or I mean obviously 228 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: not video quite at that point, um showing how dramatic 229 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: these flocks of birds were. But like the over and over, 230 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: they're described as literally blotting out the sun and just 231 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: waiting for hours and hours as this massive flock of 232 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: birds that blotted out the sun flew over and left 233 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: droppings everywhere. Yeah, I think the fact that people responded 234 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: as though the apocalypse was nine is a pretty good 235 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: indicator of how significant this bird flight was. Uh. This 236 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty five account is somewhat surprising because the passenger 237 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: pigeon had a pretty similar trajectory to the Carolina parakeet, 238 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,479 Speaker 1: and by eighteen fifty five their numbers were noticeably declining. 239 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: This decline came primarily from over hunting. Passenger pigeons formed 240 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: such enormous flocks that they vastly outnumbered animal predators, so 241 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: normal predation and even some hunting by humans wasn't enough 242 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: to really reduce their numbers. But the passenger pigeon could 243 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: not overcome industrialization and are rapidly increasing human population in 244 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century. To technologies were a huge part of 245 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: the end of the species, the telegraph and the railroad. 246 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: The telegraph made it easy to send word of where 247 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: passenger pigeons were roosting, and the railroad made it possible 248 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: to ship huge barrels of pigeons around the country to 249 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: use as a cheap source of meat. There were no 250 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: conservation laws restricting how people hunted passenger pigeons or how 251 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: many could be killed, so people hunted them at their 252 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: nesting sites, and they killed massively unsustainable numbers in one go. 253 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: One eight seventy eight hunt in Michigan took fifty thousand 254 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: birds a day from their nesting site. As we said earlier, 255 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: people had been noticing that the pigeon population was dropping 256 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: as early as the eighteen fifties. People were still hunting 257 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: these pigeons in massive numbers decades after they noticed their decline. 258 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: States began passing laws to try to protect the passenger 259 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: pigeon including outlawing hunting near their nesting areas and in 260 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: one case, closing the pigeon hunting season entirely. In nine hundred, 261 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: President William McKinley signed the Lacey Act, which was the 262 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: nation's first federal conservation law meant to protect fish and wildlife. 263 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: One of the motivations for passing the Lacy Act was 264 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: the plummeting stock of passenger pigeons, and it made it 265 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: illegal to poach pigeons from one state with the intent 266 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: of selling them in another. This was far too late 267 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: for the passenger pigeon, though by this point some states 268 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: where the birds had been widespread hadn't spotted one in years. 269 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,520 Speaker 1: The last confirmed sighting of a wild passenger pigeon was 270 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: on March twenty four, nineteen hundred, in Pike County, Ohio, 271 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: almost two months to the day before the passage of 272 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: the Lacy Act. Ornithologists mounted organized searches, including offering up 273 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 1: a reward of fifteen hundred dollars to anyone who could 274 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: find a passenger pigeon between nineteen o nine and nineteen twelve, 275 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,360 Speaker 1: but none were found. By the nineteenteens, the birds were 276 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,640 Speaker 1: extinct in the wild and the only captive populations were 277 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: in three zoos, the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, the Milwaukee Zoo, 278 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,919 Speaker 1: and the Cincinnati Zoo. Attempts to set up a breeding 279 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: program failed because the birds highly social nature meant that 280 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: they just didn't breed well in captivity. Martha, the last 281 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: of the passenger pigeons, was born in the Brookfield Zoo 282 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: and then donated to Cincinnati. She was named after Martha 283 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: Washington and her later years, her keepers had to keep 284 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,440 Speaker 1: lowering her perch as she became less able to fly, 285 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: so they basically had to get it low enough that 286 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: she could just climb up there. The last male passenger 287 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: pigeon died at the zoo on July nineteen, and then 288 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: Martha died on September one, nineteen fourteen, at the age 289 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,439 Speaker 1: of about twenty line. After her death, Martha was packed 290 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: in a three hundred pound block of ice and shipped 291 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 1: to the Smithsonian by train. Taxidermist Nelson would mounted. Her 292 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: remains and her internal organs are part of the Smithsonian's 293 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: wet collections. Martha is still part of the Smithsonian collection 294 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,680 Speaker 1: as well, although she is not usually on display because 295 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: she is so delicate and very valuable. There's also a 296 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: passenger pigeon memorial at the Cincinnati Zoo. Our last endling 297 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: was also preserved through taxid army couldn't confirm whether Incus 298 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: was or not, and we will get to that last 299 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: story after one more quick sponsor break. The Galapagos Islands 300 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: off the coast of Ecuador are famous for their diversity 301 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: of plant and animal life, with a lot of species 302 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: that are unique to each individual island. Charles Darwin conducted 303 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: research there during the second Voyage aboard the Hibs Beagle, 304 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: which contributed to his theory of evolution by means of 305 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: natural selection. Giant tortoises are one of the most famous 306 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: animals found in the Galapagos. Galapago in Spanish means turtle, 307 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: and there are fifteen different species which fall into two 308 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:21,400 Speaker 1: primary categories, domed and saddle backed. Penta Island tortoises were 309 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: saddle backed tortoises, with the shape of their shell allowing 310 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,439 Speaker 1: them to stretch their heads up to reach for food. 311 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: This was also a form of communication among the tortoises. 312 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: They would stretch their heads up as far as possible 313 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: when settling disputes. These tortoises were as their name suggests 314 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,160 Speaker 1: found on Penta Island. Penta Island as a shield volcano, 315 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: and it's the northernmost island of the Galapagos, so for 316 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,959 Speaker 1: whalers who passed through the area, Penta Island was usually 317 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: the first and last island they passed on their journey. 318 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: From the seventeen hundreds to the nineteen hundreds, whalers hunted 319 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: a lot of tortoises from Penta Island to use his food, 320 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: and as was the case with the Carolina parakeet, the 321 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: tortoises own traits made them susceptible to this. Tortoises can 322 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: live for an extended period without food or water. Whalers 323 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: realized that this meant that they could capture live tortoises 324 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,719 Speaker 1: on the island and keep them alive on board their 325 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 1: ships without a lot of effort, allowing them to have 326 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: fresh tortoise meat in transit. It's hard to pinpoint how 327 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,120 Speaker 1: many tortoises were taken from Penta Island alone, but it's 328 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: estimated that more than one hundred thousand tortoises were killed 329 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: in the Galapagos in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By 330 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century, researchers believed that the Penta Island 331 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: tortoise was already extinct. At that time, the island's ecosystem 332 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: was in pretty good condition apart from the absence of tortoises. 333 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: But in nineteen fifty nine, some fishermen released three goats 334 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: onto the island, hoping to use them as a food supply. 335 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,880 Speaker 1: When they passed through the area, as will surprise no 336 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,640 Speaker 1: one who has ever been around goats, they ran rampant 337 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:03,880 Speaker 1: over the island. They ate their way through a lot 338 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 1: of the vegetation, and they produced lots and lots more goats. 339 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: At that point, researchers concluded that if there had somehow 340 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: been any tortoises left on Pensa Island, the feral goats 341 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:19,919 Speaker 1: would have destroyed their habitat completely. And yet in a 342 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: Hungarian scientist who was on the island studying snails spotted 343 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: a tortoise. The scientists name and apologies if this is 344 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: a butchering job, was Yojeva, and when he got back 345 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: to port, he reported what he had seen, and a 346 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: year later Galapagos National Park rangers went to the island 347 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: to look for themselves, and there they found one tortoise 348 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: and they took him to the Tortoise Center on Santa 349 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: Cruz to keep him safe. The American media later started 350 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: calling him Lonesome George, after TV comedian George Gobel, who 351 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: had given himself that same nickname for decades. They tried 352 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: to find a breeding partner for Lonesome George. They tried 353 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: pairing him with other tortoise species, including two female wolf 354 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: Volcano giant tortoises from Isabella Island. Later, DNA research revealed 355 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,679 Speaker 1: that Pensa Island tortoises might be more compatible with the 356 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: Espaniola tortoise. To female Espaniola tortoises from a breeding program 357 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: were housed in Georgia's corral, but none of the eggs 358 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:29,120 Speaker 1: that they produced were fertile. Lonesome George died on June 359 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: and he was probably at least a hundred and that 360 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: sounds like quite old, but he was actually on the 361 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: younger side for a Penta Island tortoise. Uh those tortoises 362 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: could live to be up to two hundred, but the 363 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: average age was more like around a hundred and fifty. 364 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: And other than some weight gain which is common among 365 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: tortoises and captivity, he had been in good health and 366 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,199 Speaker 1: his death was really unexpected. His unexpected death meant that 367 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: his keepers were unprepared for preserving his body. The islands 368 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: are remote and the temperature was around a hundred degrees 369 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: fahrenheit or thirty eight celsius. They eventually secured enough plastic 370 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: wrap to cover his entire body and a freezer to 371 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: store him in lonesome George's remains were transported to the 372 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: United States, where New Jersey taxidermist George Dante preserved them 373 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: in a year long, thirty dollar process that took five 374 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: hundred hours of labor to complete. George spent some time 375 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: on display at the American Museum of Natural History before 376 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: being returned to Ecuador. There was a little bit of 377 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: a dispute between the researchers and the Gallopacus and the 378 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: the government of Ecuador about where he should be kept 379 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 1: once he was returned. The government's argument was that a 380 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: lot more people would be able to see him on 381 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: display in the capital of Quito, and they also argued 382 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: that there wasn't a facility in the Gallopacus Islands that 383 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: could guarantee precise enough temperature and humidity control, I mean 384 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: after after an animal specimen is preserved through taxidermy like 385 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:05,680 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it stops decaying for the rest of time, right, 386 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: It's still it's still tissue that's going to have to 387 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: be preserved. So there is a bronze statue of George 388 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: at Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz and the Galapagos. Instead, in 389 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 1: the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park Service 390 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: launched Project Isabella, which was a massive conservation project meant 391 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 1: to restore several islands that had been damaged through the 392 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: introduction of non native plants and animals, and this included 393 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:38,360 Speaker 1: exterminating hundreds of thousands of feral goats. The work at 394 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: Penta Islands started in nine and in two thousand and 395 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: three the island was declared goat free. Fortunately, it appears 396 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: that none of the island's plant species became extinct during 397 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: the goat infestation, and May thirty nine, sterilized adult tortoises 398 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: were released on the island to continue the restoration process. 399 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: So basically they're there to serve the purpose that tortoises 400 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: fulfill in that ecology, but not to make more baby 401 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:14,199 Speaker 1: tortoises yet. Gonna work on that part later in a 402 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: breeding program was announced to try to bring back the 403 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: Penta Island tortoise, or at least a tortoise that is 404 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: genetically similar. The starting point is a population of Isabella 405 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: Island tortoises that had interbred with some Penta Island tortoises 406 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,880 Speaker 1: that sailors throw overboard about a hundred years ago. There 407 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 1: has also been talk of cloning Lonesome George himself, although 408 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,440 Speaker 1: that has of course raised a number of ethical questions, 409 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 1: along with concerns that people won't care about protecting endangered 410 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: animal species if we just clone them later. We said 411 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, or at the top 412 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: of this chapter of the show, that there were fifteen 413 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: species of tortoise and the Galapagos, but now there are 414 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: only ten. Some of those species were only saved from 415 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: extinction through very careful breeding programs and other conservation efforts, 416 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: and although they used to live elsewhere in the world, 417 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: giant tortoises are now found only in the Galapagos and 418 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,919 Speaker 1: in the Aldabra atoll UH in the Seychelles. Uh. Do 419 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:15,640 Speaker 1: you have a little bit of listener mail for us? 420 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,719 Speaker 1: I do. I have two really short ones, and I'm 421 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: going to read both of them. The first one is 422 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: from Lauren, and Lauren says, I just listened to the 423 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: Memphis Sanitation Workers strike episode and wanted to write in 424 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: since I grew up right outside the city. Unfortunately, I 425 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: don't remember ever learning about the strike in our school curriculum, 426 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: which is sad because there's so much history in the 427 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: city that I never knew until I was older. However, 428 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: the National Civil Rights Museum is based in Memphis, adjacent 429 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: to the Lorraine Motel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. 430 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: Was assassinated, and I was lucky enough to tour it 431 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: before moving away. It's a powerful, moving experience with exhibits 432 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: that opened my eyes and deepened my empathy for the 433 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: civil rights movement. I strongly encourage visitors to Memphis to 434 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: go through the museum, especially if classes tend to only 435 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: scratch the surface of the turmoil of the time. Thank 436 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: you for telling these stories and broadening my horizons, Lauren. 437 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: And then the other is from Sarah. Sarah says, I 438 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: was excited to see the Memphis podcast in my que 439 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: since I grew up in a suburb of Memphis. As such, 440 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,479 Speaker 1: I had several school field trips to the historic Lorrain Mottel, 441 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: which is now the National Civil Rights Museum. Inside there 442 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: are some great exhibits, including a full size garbage truck 443 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: in the room talking about sanitation strike. At the end 444 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: of the museum, you're able to walk past the room 445 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: where MLK Junior stayed and you can look out the 446 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: window where there is a reef hanging on the railing 447 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: where he was shot. I was surprised that you didn't 448 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: mention that the Lorraine Motel is now a museum. If 449 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: you're ever in Memphis, I highly recommend going there, even 450 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: more than Graceland or Beal Street, especially when it comes 451 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: to seeing an important part of history displayed in a 452 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: historic place. Have a wonderful day, Sarah. Thank you, Lauren 453 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: and Sarah. I originally had a lengthy discussion of that 454 00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:00,439 Speaker 1: museum in the notes for the show, because there's a 455 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: whole long arc about how when it went from your hotel, 456 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: it remained a hotel for a long time, and then 457 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: the owners had financial difficulties. Long story short, then it 458 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: was purchased and made into a museum. But because that 459 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: episode was running long, uh and I really wanted as 460 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: much of the focus to stay on the strike and 461 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 1: the striking workers themselves. That was one of the things 462 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: that wound up being removed for the sake of time. 463 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: So yes, the Lorraine Motel that was the site of 464 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King's junior's assassination is now um a National 465 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: Civil Rights Museum. If you would like to write to 466 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast or a history podcast, 467 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. We're also on Facebook 468 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: at facebook dot com slash miss in history. We're on 469 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: Twitter at miss in history. Our Instagram and our Pinterest 470 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: are also at missed in History. You can find our 471 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: podcast on Apple Podcasts and on Google Play and anywhere 472 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: else do you want to get podcast. You can subscribe 473 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: to it there, and you can do all that and 474 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: a whole lot more at our web site, which is 475 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: missing history dot com. For more on this and thousands 476 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. M