Scientists Debunk 50-Year Myth About Indigenous Hawaiians Hunting Birds to Extinction

A groundbreaking study from the University of Hawaii at Manoa is overturning a half-century of scientific assumptions about the disappearance of Hawaii's native waterbirds, finding no evidence to support the widely accepted belief that Indigenous Hawaiians hunted these species to extinction. The research, published in the journal Ecosphere, challenges a narrative that has dominated conservation science and education for decades.

The study's authors systematically examined existing evidence and found no scientific basis for claims of widespread overhunting by Native Hawaiians. Instead, they propose a more complex explanation involving climate change, invasive species, and shifts in land use patterns, many of which occurred either before Polynesian arrival or after traditional Indigenous land management systems were disrupted by European colonization.

"So much of science is biased by the notion that humans are inevitable agents of ecocide, and we destroy nature wherever we go," explains Kawika Winter, associate professor at UH Manoa Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and co-author of the paper. "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 Hawaii and for decades has been taught as if it was a scientific fact."

The researchers suggest that several waterbird species now considered endangered may have actually reached their highest population levels just before European contact, when wetland management was central to Kanaka Oiwi (Native Hawaiian) society. This finding directly contradicts assumptions that Indigenous practices were inherently harmful to native species and instead points to traditional stewardship as potentially beneficial for wildlife populations.

Lead author Kristen Harmon, who recently earned a PhD from UH Manoa's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, emphasizes the importance of challenging long-standing scientific assumptions. "Science has matured to a point where graduate students are being trained to challenge its own long-standing world view," she notes. "Bringing together information from different disciplines and knowledge systems can yield a more accurate picture of reality, which is ultimately the goal of every scientist." The study represents part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Indigenous stewardship practices may offer the most effective approaches for supporting native wildlife in human-inhabited landscapes.