Island
Conservation partners, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB),
recently completed an annual census of native Tristan Albatross on Gough Island
and the results are grim.
The life
of an albatross chick between the time when it hatches from the egg until it
can eventually fly away isn’t particularly glorious. Hunkered down between wet
grass on windswept islands in the southern oceans these chicks have to wait for
their feathers to grow. They have to endure gale-force winds and driving rain,
hail, and snow, and wait… not for a few days or weeks, but roughly for 8-9
months.
Sadly,
many chicks do not survive that long.
The
inclement weather, however, isn’t the main culprit for dying Tristan albatross
chicks on Gough Island in the South Atlantic. Invasive mice that
were introduced by sailors have gradually learned to eat albatross chicks that
are too young to to fly or run away. Every year, hundreds of albatross chicks
are killed and eaten by mice.
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