Martha

At some point in elementary school we were asked to do a report on an animal, any animal, and read it aloud to the class. I guess my penchant for grandstanding started early because I thought it would be cool to do my report about an extinct species; I picked the Passenger Pigeon.

According to my research (B.G. - before Google), the last passenger pigeon, Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914. Her body was frozen and shipped to the Smithsonian Institute where it was skinned and mounted, residing in its bowels to be pawed over by avian research fellows. Have some photographic evidence:

                                             Martha (L.)

                Martha in (relatively) better days at the Cincinnati Zoo

R.I.P.