Unless you work in conservation, ‘bycatch’ is probably not a word you hear very often. In fact, it may be something you’ve never heard of before. And yet bycatch — when animals get unintentionally caught and killed in fishing gear — is one of the biggest threats to seabirds in the world. Collectively, seabirds are […]
It sounds like a horror story. But for birds on Gough Island, the nightmare is real. Invasive mice, with no natural predators, have evolved to grow fifty percent larger than the average house mouse and to rely on a sinister food source. They gather at night, forming groups of up to nine and descending upon […]
Today I had my first outing with Zak for what seems like ages. As is our wont we had a Tour de Østfold. First stop was Kurefjorden. Here we had a rising tide that seemed to bear no resemblance to that which was predicted by the tide tables but conditions were very good with all […]
In Antarctica, it’s usually the whales, seals and penguins that take the spotlight, but a new report focuses on an animal further down the food chain: the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). In a report issued last week, Greenpeace International outlines the vital role that this minute crustacean plays in Antarctica’s marine ecology and documents incursions […]
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, has once again returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial and has laid an egg. The approximately 67-year-old flies thousands of miles every year before returning to the Midway Atoll. Although these graceful birds nest on tropical Pacific islands, they can travel as far as […]
Antipodean Albatrosses court for years, mate for life and work together to raise their young – but human activity is causing a sex ratio imbalance that is destroying their lifelong romance. This year, they have been uplisted to Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to worrying population declines. The “live slow, die old” strategy […]
Despite huge success in reducing the incidental catch of seabirds in fishing nets, there’s been reports that an old type of vessel used in South Africa is still posing serious threats to seabirds. The Albatross Task Force (ATF) has been highly successful in achieving a remarkable reduction in the incidental catch of seabirds in the […]
The turbulent waters around the southern part of South America are some of the most productive in the world, with upwellings of nutrients that support a whole suite of species. Along the Patagonian Shelf to the east, around the southern tip of the continent at Cape Horn and up into the Humboldt Current to the […]