Extinct In The Wild, Guam Rail
1987 • Guam
The (Chamorro name: ko'ko') is a flightless bird, endemic to Guam that became scarce in the 1980s following catastrophic declines due to invasive brown tree-snakes. "Biologists scrambled to capture the last remaining rails before they disappeared completely. They caught less than 20 birds and started a captive breeding program at the Department of Agriculture in Guam. More than 25 years later, there are now 150 Ko'ko in captivity on Guam. The birds that were released back into the wild are still alive -- an incredible feat that many dedicated conservationists made possible."
Thornton, Patrick. "Endemic Guam Rail Reintroduced onto Guam after Two Decades of Extinction in the Wild." Rare. 13 Jan. 2011. .
Guam Rail at the Cincinnati Zoo. Digital image. 20 Feb. 2011. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GuamRail02.jpg>.
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