Taking Medawar?s medicine: science as the ?art of the soluble? for Hawaii?s terrestrial extinction crisis

Abstract

On 29 November 2004, a male Po?ouli Melamprosops phaeosoma died of what was effectively old age while in captivity in Hawai?i. The only two other known birds of this species, both at least five years old, have not been seen since 2003 and the species is now presumed extinct (Anon. 2004). With the passing of the Po?ouli, it is appropriate to ask what Hawai?i?s latest loss tells us about the state of terrestrial conservation and conservation science in the archipelago. Is this representative of conservation effectiveness in Hawai?i or merely an unlucky fluke?