Editing Spectacled cormorant

{{Short description|Extinct species of bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = EX
| extinct = c. 1850
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year= 2023 |title=''Urile perspicillatus'' |page= e.T22696750A226827998 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22696750A226827998.en}}</ref>
| image = ExtbPallusCormorantovw.jpg
| image_caption = Illustration by [[Joseph Wolf]]
| genus = Urile
| species = perspicillatus
| authority = ([[Peter Simon Pallas|Pallas]], 1811)
| synonyms = * ''Phalacrocorax perspicillatus''<br />{{Taxobox_authority | author = [[Peter Simon Pallas|Pallas]] | date = 1811}}
* ''Graculus perspicillatus''<br />{{Taxobox_authority | author = [[Daniel Giraud Elliot|Elliot]] | date = 1869}}
* ''Pallasicarbo perspicillatus''<br />{{Taxobox_authority | author = [[Elliott Coues|Coues]] | date = 1869}}
* ''Carbo perspicillatus''<br />{{Taxobox_authority | author = [[Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild|Rothschild]] | date = 1907}}
* ''Compsohalieus perspicillatus''
}}

The '''spectacled cormorant''' or '''Pallas's cormorant''' ('''''Urile perspicillatus''''')<ref>
''Phalacrocorax'', [[Ancient Greek]] word for cormorants (literally "bald raven"). ''perspicillatus'', [[Latin]] for "spectacled", in allusion of the birds' large size.</ref> is an [[Extinction|extinct]] marine [[bird]] of the [[cormorant]] family of [[seabird]]s that inhabited [[Bering Island]] and possibly other places in the [[Commander Islands]] and the nearby coast of [[Kamchatka Peninsula|Kamchatka]] in the far northeast of [[Russia]].<ref name=iucn/> The modern distribution was shown to be a relict of a wider prehistoric distribution in 2018 when fossils of the species from 120,000 years ago were found in [[Japan]]. It is the largest species of [[cormorant]] known to have existed.<ref name="Watanabe">{{cite journal |last1=Watanabe |first1=Junya |last2=Matsuoka |first2=Hiroshige |last3=Hasegawa |first3=Yoshikazu |title=Pleistocene fossils from Japan show that the recently extinct Spectacled Cormorant (''Phalacrocorax perspicillatus'') was a relict |journal=The Auk |date=October 2018 |volume=135 |issue=4 |pages=895–907 |doi=10.1642/AUK-18-54.1 |url=https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/135/4/895/5149007|hdl=2433/233910 |s2cid=91465582 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==
It was formerly classified in the genus ''[[Phalacrocorax]]'', but in 2021, the [[International Ornithologists' Union|IOC]] reclassified it and several other Pacific cormorant species into the genus ''[[Urile]]'', based on a 2014 study that supported reclassifying the [[Brandt's cormorant|Brandt's]], [[Red-faced cormorant|red-faced]], and [[Pelagic cormorant|pelagic]] cormorants into that genus. Although the spectacled cormorant was not mentioned in the 2014 study and its current taxonomic position is unresolvable by the current phylogenies, it was also reclassified into ''Urile'' based on its perceived relatedness to those species.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=2014-10-01|title=Classification of the cormorants of the world|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790314002334|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|language=en|volume=79|pages=249–257|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2014.06.020|issn=1055-7903|last1=Kennedy |first1=Martyn |last2=Spencer |first2=Hamish G. |pmid=24994028 |bibcode=2014MolPE..79..249K |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Taxonomic Updates – IOC World Bird List|url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/updates/taxonomy/|access-date=2021-07-28|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.107865 - Phalacrocorax perspicillatus Pallas, 1811 - Spectacled Cormorant - specimen - video.webm|left|thumbtime=0:00|upright|thumb|Turnaround video of a specimen, [[Naturalis Biodiversity Center]]]]
The species was first identified by [[Georg Wilhelm Steller]] in 1741 on [[Vitus Bering]]'s disastrous second [[Kamchatka]] expedition. He described the bird as large, clumsy and almost flightless&nbsp;– though it was probably reluctant to fly rather than physically unable&nbsp;– and wrote "they weighed 12–14 pounds, so that one single bird was sufficient for three starving men." Though cormorants are normally notoriously bad-tasting, Steller says that this bird tasted delicious, particularly when it was cooked in the way of the native [[Kamchadals]], who encased the whole bird in clay, buried it, and baked it in a heated pit.<ref name="EllisNTB">{{cite book| last = Ellis| first = Richard| author-link = Richard Ellis (biologist) | title = No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species| url = https://archive.org/details/noturningbacklif00elli| url-access = registration| publisher = Harper Perennial | year = 2004| location = New York| page = [https://archive.org/details/noturningbacklif00elli/page/135 135]| isbn =0-06-055804-0 }}</ref>

With a body mass estimated to be from {{convert|3.5|to|6.8|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and a length up to around {{convert|100|cm|in|abbr=on}}, the spectacled cormorant was rather larger than all other known cormorants.<ref>Hume, J. P., & Walters, M. (2012). ''Extinct birds (Vol. 217)''. A&C Black.</ref><ref>Grzimek, B. (1972). ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Birds I-III''. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.</ref> In a similar fashion to the extant [[flightless cormorant]], which may have rivaled it in length but not weight, the spectacled cormorant is thought to have at least largely lost the power of flight which is borne out by the reduced sternum and wing chord of museum specimens.<ref>Roots, C. (2006). ''Flightless birds''. Greenwood Publishing Group.</ref><ref name= King>King, R. J. (2013). ''The Devil's Cormorant: a Natural History''. University of New Hampshire Press.</ref> This species was largely glossy black in color with a reported greenish gloss that may have been fairly vivid in bright light.

A contrasting large white patch could be seen on its lower flanks just above the legs. Like other cormorants, they had small patches of bare skin about the face including a small gular patch and a small amount of bare skin around the eyes; these areas usually appeared to have been dull-yellow or grayish in hue, but during breeding stages, they may have changed to a bright orangey-reddish hue.<ref name="King" /> During breeding stages, they also had a prominent crest on their head. The bare skin around the eyes, as well as the crest, were not present in females.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Fuller |first=Errol |url=https://archive.org/details/extinctbirds00full/page/39 |title=Extinct Birds |publisher=Facts on File |year=1987 |isbn=0816018332 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/extinctbirds00full/page/39 39]}}</ref>

==Extinction==
Apart from the fact that it fed on [[fish]], almost nothing else is known about the life history of this bird. The population declined quickly after further visitors to the area started collecting the birds for food and [[feather]]s. Their reports of profitable [[whaling]] grounds and large populations of [[Arctic fox]]es and other animals with valuable pelts led to a massive influx of whalers and fur traders into the region; the last birds were reported to have lived around 1850 on [[Kamen Ariy]] ({{langx|ru|Камень Арий}}<ref>
''Ariy Kamen''. Often misspelled "Aji Kamen" or even "Aii Kimur".</ref>)
islet, off the northwestern tip of [[Bering Island]].

Only seven known specimens are currently preserved in public collections, with all specimens collected and given away by the same individual.<ref name=":2" /> None of these specimens are available on public display.

A presumed prehistoric record from [[Amchitka Island]], [[Alaska]],<ref name=Siegel/> is based on misidentification of [[double-crested cormorant]] remains.<ref name=Olson/>

==See also==
* [[List of extinct birds]]
* [[List of extinct animals of Asia]]
* [[Steller's sea cow]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Olson>{{cite journal|author=Olson, Storrs L. |year=2005|title= Correction of erroneous records of cormorants from archeological sites in Alaska|journal=[[Condor (journal)|Condor]]|volume=107|issue=4|pages= 930–933|doi=10.1650/7818.1|s2cid=84570578|doi-access=free}}</ref>

<ref name=Siegel>{{cite journal|author1=Siegel-Causey, D. |author2=Lefevre, C. |author3=Savinetskii, A. B.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1991|title= Historical diversity of cormorants and shags from Amchitka Island, Alaska|journal=[[Condor (journal)|Condor]]|volume=93|issue=4|pages= 840–852|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v093n04/p0840-p0852.pdf|doi=10.2307/3247718|jstor=3247718 |s2cid=88017585 }}</ref>
}}

{{Suliformes}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q838117}}

[[Category:Urile]]
[[Category:Bird extinctions since 1500]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1811]]
[[Category:Extinct birds of Asia]]
[[Category:Extinct animals of Russia]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Commander Islands]]
[[Category:Endemic fauna of Russia]]