Madagascar Grebe

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iMadagascar Grebe
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Podicipediformes
Family: Podicipedidae
Genus: Tachybaptus
Species: T. pelzelnii
Binomial name
Tachybaptus pelzelnii
(Hartlaub, 1861)

The Madagascar Grebe Tachybaptus pelzelnii is a grebe found only in western and central Madagascar. It is classified as Vulnerable, with a population of less than 5,000. The most serious threat is, in the west, from reduction of habitat, especially by rice cultivation. Elsewhere predation by carnivorous fish is a problem, and the introduction of exotic, herbivorous fish has limited the development of aquatic vegetation and favoured Little Grebe.

The binomial name commemorates the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln.

[edit] References

  • BirdLife International (2004). Tachybaptus pelzelnii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable

[edit] External link