6 Jul 2018
Great escape: After years of
preparation, the Raso Lark (Critically Endangered) now spreads its wings on its
new home of Santa Luzia – video below
By Shaun Hurrell
Approach Raso by boat and it can
look like the foundations of a prison: a ten-metre-high perimeter wall of
seemingly impenetrable reddish volcanic rock rises from a 'moat' of turbulent,
shark-patrolled, Atlantic water. But rather than tall turrets and defensive
battlements, the only human infrastructure on this mostly flat little island is
an ex-military tent; rather than guards carrying guns, instead one might spot
conservation biologists programming radio tags through the wind-torn gaps in
the tent’s canvas.
Who, then, are the
‘prisoners’? Raso Larks Alauda
razae (Critically Endangered), some of the rarest birds in
the world. For many decades this little brown, crested bird has been confined
to Ilhéu Raso (Raso Islet), a mere seven square kilometres of barren
rock in Cabo Verde, off the west coast of Africa. The ‘crime’? It’s a
complicated case of injustice: the Raso Lark is an innocent victim of the human
introduction of invasive predators.
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