Birds
Imperial Woodpecker
Campephilus imperialis · also called Mexican imperial woodpecker
Once the largest woodpecker to ever exist, an imperial woodpecker vanished from Mexico’s mountain pine forests by around the mid-twentieth century, a giant lost to the same old-growth logging that pushed its close relative the ivory-billed woodpecker to the brink.
Overview
The imperial woodpecker, Campephilus imperialis, was the largest woodpecker species that ever existed, historically native to old-growth pine forest habitat restricted to mountainous regions of Mexico. Its record-setting size exceeding even the ivory-billed woodpecker, dependence on high-altitude old-growth pine forest, and extinction by the mid-twentieth century following extensive logging make it one of the most dramatic conservation losses in the entire woodpecker family.
The largest woodpecker that ever lived, now gone
No woodpecker before or since has matched the imperial woodpecker’s size, making its loss to old-growth logging in Mexico’s mountain forests one of the most significant extinctions to affect the entire woodpecker family.
Status
Extinct, with the last credible reports dating to around the mid-twentieth century following extensive old-growth logging across its restricted Mexican range.
Imperial Woodpecker: common questions
How big was the imperial woodpecker?
This species was the largest woodpecker species that ever existed, exceeding even its close relative the ivory-billed woodpecker in overall size, a remarkable scale for a bird now lost entirely.
When did the imperial woodpecker go extinct?
This species is believed to have gone extinct by around the mid-twentieth century, with the last credible reports dating to that general period, following decades of habitat destruction.
Why did the imperial woodpecker go extinct?
This species was driven to extinction primarily by extensive logging of the old-growth pine forest it depended on, which eliminated the dead and dying trees crucial to its specialised feeding habits.
Is the imperial woodpecker related to the ivory-billed woodpecker?
Yes, this species is closely related to the ivory-billed woodpecker of the southeastern United States and Cuba, both belonging to the same genus of unusually large, now critically rare or extinct woodpeckers.