Mauritius Parakeet Avoids Fate of the Dodo
Date: 13-Sep-07
Country: MAURITIUS
Author: Ed Harris
But, in a rare success story, a two-decade conservation
programme in a wooded corner of Mauritius has brought the Echo
Parakeet back from the brink of extinction.
Evolving over millions of years on the once-uninhabited
Indian Ocean island best known as the site of the dodo's demise,
the green-feathered Echo Parakeet was hit hard by rats, monkeys
and the loss of forest that came with the arrival of humans.
But careful breeding, supplementary feeding and the
protection of nests have boosted numbers in the wild to more
than 320 birds.
It is one of the only good news stories in Wednesday's IUCN
Red List -- a list of threatened species compiled by the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources -- which downgraded the species to "Endangered" from
"Critically Endangered" in its last report.
"The Echo programme has just been evolving and evolving,"
said Jason Malham, a New Zealander who has coordinated parakeet
work for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation for seven years.
The non-profit organisation weighs chicks daily for 10 days
after hatching and swaps eggs or chicks between mother birds.
"We were looking at maximising the survival chances of every
fertile egg," Malham told Reuters.
Dotted about the green, craggy slopes of the Black River
Gorges National Park, plastic wrapped around tree trunks
protects nest locations and artificial nests from climbing rats.
Workers also help make holes in the trunks deeper to guard
against monkeys, which also enjoy parakeet eggs.
The Mauritian project began in the late 1980s and now, with
at least 80 percent of the birds tagged, the emphasis is
shifting to research and supplementary feeding.
Echo Parakeets savour their favourite food pellets, which
come in different colours, shapes, and tastes, Malham said, and
throw the others to the forest floor.
While observing their behaviour, conservationists are also
keeping a close eye out for a beak and feather disease, which
turns plumage yellow and has been fatal for parrots elsewhere.
Deforestation, predators and competition from other birds
are likely to remain key threats, experts say, but the Mauritian
Wildlife Foundation remains determined to succeed -- pushed by
the loss of other local parrots like the broad-billed and grey.
"There's a whole bunch of parrots that are gone now," Malham
said. "That in itself makes this work so important."