THE TANAGER EXPEDITION
| The first scientific expeditions to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were in the early 1920's. The Tanager Expeditions took their name from the converted First World War minesweeper, the Tanager (right), that took the scientists from Honolulu to the western end of the NWHI. Afterward they traveled throughout the Pacific, visiting the Marshall Islands and the Line Islands. |  Click photo for larger view |
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Collection of specimens was one of the aims of the Tanager Expeditions. Seals (left), birds, turtles and other animals and plants were captured, studied and preserved for shipment back to laboratories. Today scientists do not use such methods to study the endangered animals of the NWHI, instead using photography and radio tracking in their studies. |
| While on Laysan, the scientists studied the different land birds found there. One was the Laysan Apapane (right). The scientists were battered by a sudden storm that lasted nearly three days. When the storm was over, they discovered that the last three Laysan Apapane had died during the storm, perhaps the only time scientists had actually observed the extinction of an animal in the wild. |
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