ISIS militants driving rare bird to extinction. Here's how

Image Credit: Frank Wouters/Wikimedia Commons

Monday, May 25, 2015, 8:57 AM - The Islamic State's advance in Syria may spell the doom of a critically endangered species.

The terrorist group, also known variously as ISIS or ISIL, captured the ancient city of Palmyra earlier in May, home to the last four known members of the northern bald ibis in the country.

Three of them were under the care of guards who fled before Islamic State's forces, leaving the birds to their fate.

Now, Syrian authorities are offering a reward of $1,000 for any information of the whereabouts of the fourth bird.

They're desperate to find that bird, a mature female called Zenobia, as she is the only one of the birds who knows the migration route from Palmyra to Ethiopia, where the birds travel in December. Thus, she would have been the one to lead the other captive birds there when they were ready.

"Culture and nature, they go hand in hand, and war stops, but nobody can bring back a species from extinction," Asaad Serhal, the head of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon, told the BBC.

The northern bald ibis was believed to be extinct in Syria until 2002, when seven individuals were found near Palmyra, though their numbers then declined to just four.

A much larger population still exists in Morocco, but despite some success at breeding, they numbered only 443 individuals in 2013. An introduced population in Turkey numbers around 100 individuals.

The missing bird's name itself, Zenobia, is a callout to the history of the Palmyra site now controlled by the Islamic State.

Though now a ruin, its history stretches back thousand of years, to at least 2000 BC. But it really gained prominence during Roman times, when it was a major trading centre of the Roman province of Syria.

In a war with neighbouring Persia, the city's rulers actually beat back Persian forces while the rest of the empire struggled with civil war. 

The bird's namesake, Zenobia, was one such ruler, who became so powerful, she actually declared independence from Rome, seizing most of the east before being defeated by Roman forces.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Palmyra faces a grim fate under Islamic State control, whose militants in neighbouring Iraq have destroyed several archaeological sites.

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SOURCES: BBC | International Business Times | UNESCO | IUCN