When I was little, I did a science project on extinct or endangered species. It was my first glimpse at the tragedy humans can cause for the world and the animals that share our planet. I wrote about the California condor, despite its rather unsightly appearance. It is a mighty vulture-like bird capable of soaring as high as 15,000 feet. I thought that was pretty cool. By 1982, only 22 lived, but human efforts helped save them. There are now 1,000 in existence thanks to a rigorous breeding program launched in the 80s. The problem is, sometimes it’s mother nature that causes extinction as a natural ongoing cycle. While this happens repeatedly on the planet, sometimes a species can save themselves. Re-enter the Aldabra rail, a bird who like the Phoenix, has risen from the ashes of extinction so to speak. (1, 2)
Introducing The Aldabra Rail
The Aldabra rail lived in the Seychelles islands in Africa. It was believed to be the last surviving flightless bird native to this region of the Indian Ocean. The bird possibly lost its ability to fly because it lacked predators. They date back as far as 136,000 years ago. However, when their native island submerged beneath the ocean, most wildlife perished. Despite the flood the bird has surprisingly reappeared.
“Aldabra went under the sea and everything was gone,” says Julian Hume, paleontologist, and author of the study from London’s Natural History Museum. “There was an almost complete turn over in the fauna. Everything … went extinct. Yet as the Aldabra rail still lives on today, something must have happened for it to have returned.”
Aldabra Rail 20,000 Years Later
The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society published a study revealing white-throated rails recolonized the islands once sea levels dropped. This happened 20,000 years after the flood wiped them out. The new rail is also flightless, matching fossils that showed it as a heavier bird. (3, 2)
“There is no other case that I can find of this happening, where you have a record of the same species of bird becoming flightless twice,” Hume says. “It wasn’t as if it were two different species colonizing and becoming flightless. This was the very same ancestral bird.” (2)
Aldabra Rail Flightless Once More
The study showed that the Aldabra experienced “at least one major, total inundation event” that lead to the wipeout of all existing wildlife. Inundation in this case refers to the flooding of the islands. It is believed the flightless bird came to the area from Madagascar about 700 miles away. It evolved into a flightless bird on what they refer to as “multiple occasions.” (3)
The Aldabra Atoll is completely removed from the world in a lovely paradise with turquoise seas and isolated shores. It was deemed a World Heritage site because it provides a safe sanctuary for giant tortoises. The atoll is made of four large coral islands creating a shallow lagoon. With minimum access to the islands, it creates the perfect haven for over 152,000 giant tortoises and assorted wildlife. Now the Aldabra rail shares the site making a victorious return to its once flooded home. (4, 2)
