Mauritius Owl (Mascarenotus sauzieri)

Year Last Seen:

1859

Comments:

This species was formerly found on Mauritius, but the logging of its forest habitat has driven it to extinction. It was last recorded in 1837, and certainly Extinct by 1859.

Habitat:

Desjardins reported that it inhabited the island's woods.

Causes:

Deforestation, and perhaps also hunting as well as predation by introduced mammals caused its extinction.

Distribution:

Mascarenotus sauzieri is only known from subfossil bones from Mauritius (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1994), and was described and sketched by a number of early travellers. Desjardins reported that it was fairly common even as late as the 1830s, but his 1837 reports were the last, and Clark specifically wrote that it was extinct in 1859 (Cheke 1987).

References:

IUCN Redbook Data