Science Cartoon based on Yellow-breasted buntings 'being eaten to extinction by China'

Science Cartoon based on

Yellow-breasted buntings 'being eaten to extinction by China'

     Once upon a time, yellow breasted bunting was known for the population and known with the status "Superabundance". This bird used to be one of the most abundant song birds of the paleartcic, with a very large breeding range stretching from Scandinavia to the Rassia. The population of yellow breasted bunting has started declining by 90 percent since 1980 because of hunting for food. Because of initial declining data, China banned the hunting of this bird, but being popular food people continued the hunting and selling in the black market. It is claimed that one million bunting were consumed in Guangdong province of South China. Yellow-breasted buntings have since 2013 been classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as an "endangered" species due to rapid population decline from trapping outside their breeding grounds. A study conducted by under leadership of Dr Johannes Kamp from the University of Munster, Germany found that this bird will decline like passanger pegion declined century ago which was dominating once on the planet. Here I am presenting a cartoon based on research published by Dr. Kamp and his team in the online publication of Conservation Biology.

Links: Original article in Conservation Biology: Global population collapse in a superabundant migratory bird and illegal trapping in China.

Report in The Guardian: Yellow-breasted buntings 'being eaten to extinction by China'

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