Animal extinction awareness GeoKret.

The Broad-billed Parrot was a parrot endemic to the island of Mauritius that became extinct. It was a large, heavy-set parrot, with strong males similar in size to the Palm Cockatoo. Females were considerably smaller. It had a long tail and a reduced flight apparatus and was probably flightless. The bill was very large but comparatively weak and probably adapted to crush the pulp of large fruits so that they could be swallowed, pit and all. The color was all bluish gray, and there was a small frontal crest. The discovery of the structure of the bill (which was previously thought to be adapted to cracking nuts) has led to the hypothesis that this bird, not the dodo, was one of the main animals responsible for propagation of the Tambalacoque or "dodo tree".

It became extinct partly due to hunting, but more importantly due to predation by introduced pigs, Crab-eating Macaques, and rats, which fed on the eggs and young of this species, which was in all likelihood ground-nesting (a rare occurrence among parrots, the Kakapo, the Night Parrot and the Ground Parrot being essentially the only species doing so) due to its inability to fly. -- [Link] --

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