26. The death of Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon in the world, helped create the conservationist movement
The Passenger Pigeon lived abundantly alongside Native Americans until European settlers arrived. By 1900, exhaustive hunting and habitat loss made the bird extinct in the wild. A few survived in captivity, but ‘experts’ bungled attempts to save the species, and soon only one remained. Martha, named after George Washington’s wife, lived in the Cincinnati Zoo between 1885 and 1914. As the last of her species, people flocked from far and wide to see Martha. The zoo even offered $1000 for a mate for her. Her death helped to create the conservation movement, and she is still a conservation icon today.
