Editing Labrador duck (section)

==Extinction==
[[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.110083 - Camptorhynchus labradorius (Gmelin, 1789) - Labrador Duck - specimen - video.webm|thumb|Turnaround video of a male specimen, [[Naturalis Biodiversity Center]]]]
The Labrador duck is thought to have been always rare, but between 1850 and 1870, populations waned further.<ref name=gap/> The exact reasons for its extinction is still not fully known.<ref>Sibley and Monroe (Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World, 1990, p. 40)</ref> The IUCN recognized the last year the species was seen as 1875.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=International) |first=BirdLife International (BirdLife |date=2022-09-16 |title=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Camptorhynchus labradorius |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22680418/221212367 |journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240606151609/https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22680418/221212367 |archive-date=2024-06-06}}</ref> It was last seen in Canada, in 1874 on [[Grand Manan]].<ref>The Canadian Field Naturalist, 1919, https://archive.org/details/canadianfieldnat113otta</ref>

Although hunted for food, this duck was considered to taste bad, rotted quickly, and fetched a low price. Consequently, it was not sought much by hunters. However, the eggs may have been [[Overexploitation|overharvested]], and it may have been subject to depredations by the feather trade in its breeding area, as well. Another possible factor in the bird's extinction was the decline in [[mussel]]s and other shellfish on which they are believed to have fed in their winter quarters, due to growth of population and industry on the [[East Coast of the United States|Eastern Seaboard]]. Although all sea ducks readily feed on shallow-water molluscs, no Western Atlantic bird species seems to have been as dependent on such food as the Labrador duck.<ref>Phillips, John C. (1922–1926): ''A Natural History of Ducks''. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, volume 4, pp.&nbsp;57–63.</ref>

[[File:Labrador Ducks AMNH.jpg|thumb|Stuffed specimens, [[American Museum of Natural History]]]]
Another theory that was said to lead to their extinction was a huge increase of human influence on the coastal ecosystems in North America, causing the birds to flee their niches and find another habitat.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Amadon |first=Dean |date=1953 |title=Migratory Birds of Relict Distribution: Some Inferences |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4081357 |journal=The Auk |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=461–469 |doi=10.2307/4081357 |jstor=4081357 |issn=0004-8038|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Reaka-Kudla |first1=Marjorie L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-X5OAgAAQBAJ&dq=labrador+duck+extinction&pg=PA139 |title=Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources |last2=Wilson |first2=Don E. |last3=Wilson |first3=Edward O. |date=1996-09-30 |publisher=Joseph Henry Press |isbn=978-0-309-52075-1 |language=en}}</ref> These ducks were the only birds whose range was limited to the American coast of the North Atlantic, so changing niches was a difficult task.<ref>"All About Birds".  Labrador Duck. Cornell University, 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/conservation/extinctions/labrador_duck/document_view.</ref> Whatever the causes may be, the Labrador duck became extinct in the late 19th century.