Saving Marion Island’s sea birds

Against the odds

Authors

  • Peter Ryan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11576/biuz-6140

Keywords:

Seevogelschutz, Marion-Insel, Mouse-Free Marion Project, Wanderalbatros, invasive Arten, Inselökosysteme

Abstract

The South African Marion Island is part of the Prince Edward Archipelago and located in the sub-Antarctic Zone between South Africa and Antarctica. Marion Island is home to a diverse number of breeding seabirds including several species of albatross, petrels, and penguins – amongst them, about 33,500 breeding pairs of five albatross species of which 1.600 pairs consist of Wandering Albatrosses. As early as 1948, a large proportion of the breeding colonies, especially petrels, were severely affected by introduced cats. After the eradication of the feral cats in the 1990s, introduced house mice became another problem. To this day, the mice feed on albatross and petrel chicks and are becoming a serious threat to a large proportion of the present breeding colonies.

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Further information

Published

2022-12-22

How to Cite

Ryan, P. (2022). Saving Marion Island’s sea birds: Against the odds. Biologie in Unserer Zeit, 53(1), 40–44. https://doi.org/10.11576/biuz-6140