Red Rail

The Red Rail (Aphanapteryx bonasia) is an extinct, flightless rail. It was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It had a close relative on Rodrigues island, the likewise extinct Rodrigues Rail, with which it is sometimes considered congeneric. Its relationship with other rails is unclear. Rails often evolve flightlessness when adapting to isolated islands, free of predators.

The Red Rail was a little larger than a chicken and had reddish plumage with dark legs and a long, curved beak. The wings were small, and its legs were slender for a bird of its size. It was similar to the Rodrigues Rail, but was larger, and had proportionally shorter wings. It is believed to have fed on invertebrates, and snails have been found with damage matching an attack by its beak. It was described as being attracted to red objects, which was exploited by humans during hunting.

The Red Rail was only known from 17th century descriptions and illustrations which were thought to represent several different species, until subfossil remains were described in 1869. The last mention of a Red Rail sighting is from 1693, and it is thought to have gone extinct around 1700, due to predation by humans and introduced species brought by them. It has been suggested that all late 17th century accounts of the Dodo actually referred to the Red Rail, after the former had become extinct.