Enadangered Floreana Mockingbird to Return Home
For the first time in more than 130 years, the critically endangered Floreana mockingbird will again live and breed on the island of Floreana if reintroduction efforts are carried out as planned in 2009. Floreana mockingbirds were prevalent on the island during Darwin’s time, but introduced species, primarily rats and goats, caused their extirpation from the island within 50 years of the visit by the HMS Beagle. The species managed to find refuge on two tiny islands near Floreana, Gardner-by-Floreana and Champion, though these isles currently support fewer than 150 of the birds.
This spring, five males and five females will be transported from the isles to Floreana. The mockingbirds will be released into the wild after they become adapted to their environment, and invasive species in their vicinity can be eradicated. The release program will be carried out by conservationists from Durrell, set up by the naturalist and author Gerald Durrell 50 years ago and formerly known as Jersey Zoo. They will work with conservationists from the Charles Darwin Foundation, Galápagos National Park, Zurich University, and the University of Missouri.
What better way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth than to reintroduce the Floreana mockingbird? Professor John Fa, of Durrell, said of the mockingbird: “It is an iconic species for our understanding of evolution. It was the bird that made Darwin think about the origin of species.”
Source: Times Online