The end of an Eden

 

Ancient and mysterious diversity of Easter Island.

Easter Island is an island under the administration of Chile, belonging to the Valparaíso region, located in Polynesia, Oceania, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 3,700 kilometers from Caldera, has an area of ​​163.6 km², which makes it the largest of the islands of the so-called insular Chile, and a population of 7,750 inhabitants, concentrated in Hanga Roa, capital and only existing town on the island. The nearest inhabited land is the British territory of the Pitcairn Islands, about 2000 km to the west.

There is a lot of talk about this island, due to its archaeological properties and records of the Rapa Nui, but nevertheless the fact is little It is known that it was once covered by subtropical humid forests and that the species on Easter Island are currently a mystery.

This is theorized based on the fact that by the time the European settlers arrived, the island was already almost dying, and they alone finished the work, Before this, it has been proven that the island was previously covered in forests, with a great variety of trees, 2 known from a single specimen being these:

The palm of Rapa Nui

  scientific name Paschalococos disperta, it was a tall palm, this species was very abundant and covered the entire island,

When the first humans arrived between 800 and 1000 AD to Easter Island, they cut the palms mainly to make canoes, utensils and figures was also used for its palmettos, as the human population grew the palms were cut down excessively as well as the predation of its seeds by the kiore rat (rattus exulans) over the years.

Its extinction occurred in the mid-17th century, after which it also brought terrible consequences to the human population as they There began to be wars that even had terrible massacres.

The toromiro of Easter Island 

  It is a tree species of the Fabaceae family endemic to Easter Island, now extinct in its natural environment.

This story is long but I will summarize it.

  The first written mention describing the toromiro was by the naturalist Georg Forster, when the plant was discovered on Easter Island, during the second voyage through the South Seas (1772 to 1775) of James Cook, where according to him he still had large forest masses, but the discovery of this plant was his downfall, since due to being a Shrub plant that did not exceed 3 meters was cut down extensively and used as food for livestock brought by Europeans for almost 2 centuries.

               [Engraving by Georg Forster]

Francisco Fuentes, Head of the Botany Section of the National Museum of Natural History of Chile, found a single specimen in 1911, of which he gave news to the botanist Carl Skottsberg about its location, he visited the island in 1917, finding this unique specimen, collecting samples and seeds, with which he described the species.

The archaeologist Alfred Métraux photographed this last specimen between 1934-35, in the Rano Kau crater, where large rocks protected it from livestock.

This last specimen of Sophora toromiro on the island, died in 1960, (if Allo the photo will be in the blog gallery), leaving only a few specimens scattered in a few botanical gardens and private gardens, These being almost only descendants or clones of this last solitary plant that was studied, in the end this also had serious climatic effects.

Hey here we see that sometimes not only animals suffer unjust extinctions, but also plants, at least the clones and descendants of that single plant are being reintroduced back to its original habitat, also based on soil samples it is theorized that it was housing a variety of shrubs, unique ferns and grasses, which are still unknown and possibly extinct.

In addition to plants there were also species of birds, quite striking and varied in terms of diversity.

 It is theorized that the island had vast seabird colonies containing probably more than 30 resident species, perhaps the richest in the world at the time.

In addition to this, fossil remains have been found in caves of still unidentified species, related to herons, parrots, owls, and rails, being a total of 6 species, it is theorized that perhaps these sub-fossils were endemic species of the island, because almost all of them have characteristics of land birds, These are still waiting to be fully studied but due to lack of studies it has resulted in a poor understanding of the oceanic fauna and Easter Island, leaving its endemic flora and fauna as true enigmas pending to be clarified, even so searches are being carried out in this regard..

In short, Easter Island was a beautiful Eden on Earth but sadly due to the actions of others it is now completely destroyed and without the possibility of returning to what it was in a short time.

[Reading links]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/extinction-looms-for-easter-islands-only-remaining-native-species