Challenging a 50-year-old narrative about Hawaiʻi’s native birds, a new study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa found no scientific evidence that Indigenous People hunted waterbird species to extinction. Published in the journal Ecosphere, the research debunks this long-held myth and offers a new, integrated theory to explain the disappearances.

Researchers found no evidence that Indigenous People over-hunted birds to extinction. Instead, the authors suggest a new theory: the birds died out because of a combination of climate change, invasive species and changes in how the land was used—most of which happened either prior to Polynesian arrival, or after the suppression of Indigenous stewardship. The study also noted that now-endangered waterbirds were probably most abundant just before Europeans arrived, when wetland management was a core aspect of Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) society.

“So much of science is biased by the notion that humans are inevitable agents of ecocide, and we destroy nature wherever we go. This idea has shaped the dominant narrative in conservation, which automatically places the blame for extinctions on the first people—the Indigenous People—of a place. Even where there is zero scientific evidence to support it, the myth of Hawaiians hunting birds to extinctions took root in Hawaiʻi and for decades has been taught as if it was a scientific fact,” said Kawika Winter, associate professor at Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology  (HIMB) and co-author of the paper. “Our study not only dispels this myth, but also contributes to a growing body of evidence that Indigenous stewardship represents the best ways for native birds to thrive in a world where humans are not going away.”

Read the full feature article in UH News