An artist's impression of the rarely seen and now extinct Alaotra grebe
The Alaotra grebe is extinct, according to the latest assessment of the world's rarest birds.
The last known sighting of the bird was in 1985 and experts have now confirmed its demise, killed off by a combination of poaching and predatory fish.
The Malagasy species, which lived in Lake Alaotra, is the first confirmed bird extinction since 2008.
However, fortunes have improved for rare birds such as the Azores bullfinch and Colombian yellow-eared parrot.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8702000/8702598.stm
