{"id":40484,"date":"2024-07-31T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9e030982-74e2-439f-a9ea-530fe6209044"},"modified":"2024-07-31T16:27:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:27:29","slug":"gruesome-images-of-albatross-chicks-eaten-alive-by-house-mice-highlight-need-for-action-on-remote-indian-ocean-island","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/gruesome-images-of-albatross-chicks-eaten-alive-by-house-mice-highlight-need-for-action-on-remote-indian-ocean-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Gruesome images of albatross chicks eaten alive by house mice highlight need for action on remote Indian Ocean island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conservationists estimate that wandering albatross and 18 other species will disappear as breeding birds on Marion Island if the house mice continue to predate them. <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 31 July 2024 at 13:31 PM<\/p>

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Article includes images that some readers may find distressing.<\/em><\/p>

With their Mickey Mouse ears and button-black eyes, house mice may look cute and harmless, but in certain situations, they are anything but.<\/strong><\/p>

On the sub-Antarctic island of Marion in the Indian Ocean, they are a deadly threat to one of the world\u2019s most iconic seabirds \u2013 the wandering albatross<\/a>, symbol of the Southern Ocean and immortalised in classic literature such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Rime of the Ancient Mariner<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>

Marion Island is one of the two Prince Edward Islands found in the southern Indian Ocean, 1,190 miles south-east of Cape Town, South Africa. Credit Tom Peschak<\/figcaption><\/figure>

An estimated 1,800 pairs \u2013\u00a0about one quarter of all breeding individuals \u2013\u00a0nest on Marion, but at some point over the past two decades or so, the non-native house mice have discovered a taste for both the chicks and the adults of many of the island\u2019s seabirds, with disastrous impacts.<\/p>

Extraordinary as it sounds, says Dr Anton Wolfaardt, the\u00a0Mouse-Free Marion<\/a>\u00a0project manager, the omnivorous mice have slowly moved from the island invertebrates as a source of protein to the seabirds, which don\u2019t appear to recognise them as a threat.<\/p>

\u201cThe mice slowly but surely nibble away at the birds, and though they don\u2019t die [from their wounds] immediately, they become fatigued, the wounds become infected, they lose condition and perhaps they are then vulnerable to predation by avian predators or scavengers such as petrels,\u201d Wolfaardt says.<\/p>

The chick shown here was photographed in July, with bloody marks on its neck, and it died the next day \u2013\u00a0yet another victim of the house mice that were accidentally introduced to Marion in the early 1800s.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Wandering
Wandering albatross wounds inflicted by house mice. Credit: Credit Vanessa Stephen<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It was about 20 years ago conservationists first realised the mice had begun attacking vulnerable and naive seabirds such as the albatrosses. <\/p>

It\u2019s believed that climate change has improved conditions for the mice, lengthening their breeding season by several months, leading to a higher density of animals and greater competition for resources.<\/p>

\"Wandering
Experts say the house mice could wipe out Marion Island’s breeding wandering albatross population. Credit Otto Whitehead<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Wolfaardt and colleagues estimate that wandering albatrosses and 18 other species will disappear as breeding birds on Marion Island should the house mice continue to predate them.\u00a0Which is why they are planning to remove the mice for good. <\/p>

Copying the blueprint used on other islands such as South Georgia, where conservationists carried out a huge rat and mice eradication, Mouse-Free Marion will use between four and six helicopters and some 35 staff to spread a specially formulated rodenticide across its 30,000 hectares \u2013\u00a0about three-quarters the area of the Isle of Wight \u2013\u00a0to wipe out the mice over the course of one austral winter [ie, summer time in the UK].\u00a0<\/p>

\"House
House mice are omnivorous, meaning they eat food of both plant and animal origin. Credit Ben Dilley<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cWe want to do it in the winter time because many of the seabirds have left and the mice are more desperate for food,\u201d says Wolfaardt. But, as he explains, there are pros and cons to this strategy \u2013\u00a0days are shorter and the weather more challenging. You could have weeks when you are unable to spread the bait because of adverse weather conditions.<\/p>

Wolfaardt says there are still some issues to be resolved, and the project has so far raised only one quarter of the $29 million (\u00a323 million) needed, but the intention is to begin the operation in April 2027, just under three years from now.\u00a0<\/p>

Main image: wandering albatross on Marion Island. Credit: Michelle Risi<\/em><\/p>

More stories about the environment<\/strong><\/p>