Red Rail

Aphanapterix bonasia

Early descriptions and drawings together with skeletons and skulls found in the Mare aux Songes in the southeastern part of Mauritius, give us a good idea of the appearance of this large rail.

This flightless bird was good to eat and easily captured. A combination of hunting and predation by rats, cats and pigs which ate their eggs, ensured that the Red Rail was extinct by the end of the 17th Century.