Guam Rail (Gallirallus owstoni)  

The Guam rail is a small, flightless bird that was native to the island of Guam. Much like the dodo, this flightless bird was specially adapted to life without many predators. Sometime after World War II, the brown tree snake was accidentally introduced to the island from Asia. The birds were virtually defenseless against snakes because they were not adapted to cope with such predators. By the 1970’s, nine of Guam’s eleven native species of birds were extinct.

In the 1980s, the last remaining Guam rails were carefully removed from the island and placed into captive breeding programs in an effort to save the species from extinction. Fortunately, Guam rails breed well in captivity and can now be seen on display in a number of zoos, including the National Aviary. Since 1989, efforts have been made to reintroduce the rails back to Guam or the nearby snake-free island of Rota. One of the rail chicks hatched at the Aviary was sent to Rota as part of this reintroduction plan in 2007. The efforts have met with limited success and the Guam rail will still be considered “extinct in the wild” until a strong wild breeding population can be established.