Rodrigues Rail - Behaviour and Ecology

Behaviour and Ecology

The Rodrigues Rail ate invertebrates, possibly small vertebrates, and in the nesting season of the now extinct Cylindraspis tortoises, they dug up and fattened themselves on their eggs. It is possible that the birds had an annual cycle of becoming fat and slim, corresponding with varying availability of food throughout the year. Its vocalizations were a continuous whistling, and it had a hiccup-like, staccato alarm call. Leguat wrote that the birds were hunted in similar method to that used on Mauritius to catch Red Rails: a piece of red cloth was shown to the birds, which responded with aggressive behaviour, jumping at the cloth and trying to tear it apart. They no fear of humans because they had evolved in the absence of predators, enabling hunters to catch them in large numbers. Neither Leguat or Tafforet located the eggs and nests of the birds.

Many other species endemic to Rodrigues became extinct after humans arrived, and the island's ecosystem is heavily damaged. Before humans arrived, forests covered the island entirely, but very little remains today. The Rodrigues Rail lived alongside other recently extinct birds, such as the Rodrigues Solitaire, the Rodrigues Parrot, Newton's Parakeet, the Rodrigues Starling, the Rodrigues Owl, the Rodrigues Night Heron, and the Rodrigues Pigeon. Extinct reptiles include the Domed Rodrigues giant tortoise, the Saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise, and the Rodrigues day gecko.