Law's Diving-goose

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Law's Diving-goose
Law's Diving-goose and Oncorhynchus rastrosus
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Genus: Chendytes Species: C. lawi
Binomial name
Chendytes lawi Miller, 1925

The Law's Diving-goose Chendytes lawi was a goose-sized flightless sea duck, once common on the California coast, California Channel Islands, and possibly southern Oregon. It lived in the Pleistocene and survived into the Holocene. It appears to have gone extinct about [[2,400-2,200 BP]^[1]].^{[citation needed]} The youngest direct radiocarbon date from a Chendytes bone fragment dates to(2,720-2,350 calendar years B.P.) and was found in an archeological site in Ventura County. Its remains have been found in fossil deposits and in early coastal archeological sites. "Archeological data from coastal California show a record of human exploitation of Chendytes lawi for at least 8,000 years[¹]." It was probably driven to extinction by hunting, animal predation, and loss of habitat. There is nothing in the North American archaeological record indicating a span of exploitation for any megafaunal genera remotely as long as that of Chendytes[¹].

[edit] References

1. ^ Jones, T.L. et al. 2008: The Protracted Holocene extinction of California's flightless sea duck (Chendytes lawi) and its implications for the Pleistocene overkill hypothesis, PNAS, Vol. 105, no. 11, pages 4105-4108

• Miller, Loye H. (1925): Chendytes, a Diving Goose from the California Pleistocene. Condor (journal) 27(4): 145-147. PDF fulltext

¹*Jones, T.L. (2008): The Protracted Holocene extinction of California's flightless sea duck (Chendytes lawi) and its implications for the Pleistocene overkill hypothesis. PNAS (journal)VOl. 105, no. 11:4105-4108.