Réunion ibis

Common card · No. 272926

The Réunion ibis or Réunion sacred ibis (Threskiornis solitarius) is an extinct species of ibis that was endemic to the volcanic island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The first subfossil remains were found in 1974, and the ibis was first scientifically described in 1987. Its closest relatives are the Malagasy sacred ibis, the African sacred ibis, and the straw-necked ibis. Travellers' accounts from the 17th and 18th centuries described a white bird on Réunion that flew with difficulty and preferred solitude, which was subsequently referred to as the "Réunion solitaire". In the mid 19th century the old travellers' accounts were incorrectly assumed to refer to white relatives of the dodo. This was assumed because one of the accounts specifically mentioned dodos on the island, and 17th-century paintings of white dodos had recently surfaced. Additionally, both it and the Rodrigues solitaire, an actual dodo relative, were referred to as "solitaires" due to shared habits. However, no fossils...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Drawn by FunkMonk with anatomical suggestions from Snowmanradio, CC BY-SA 3.0