Campbell Island Teal
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| Anas nesiotis (Fleming,JH, 1935) |
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Anas aucklandica nesiotis |
The Campbell Island Teal (Anas nesiotis) is a species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas that is endemic to Campbell Island group off New Zealand. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the Brown Teal. The Campbell Island Teal is a small brown duck that is nocturnal and flightless.
[edit] Conservation
The Campbell Island Teal is critically endangered, with a wild population of possibly less than 50 birds. Once found on Campbell Island, it was driven to extinction there by the introduction of Norway Rats (which ate their eggs and chicks), and was for a while presumed extinct. In 1975 it was rediscovered on Dent Island, a small ( 23 hectare) islet near Campbell that had remained rat free. The population was so small that a single event could have driven it to complete extinction; to prevent this from happening, 11 individuals were taken into captivity by the Department of Conservation for captive breeding at the Pukaha Mount Bruce national wildlife centre in 1984 while the rest followed in 1990.
Captive breeding was initially very difficult to achieve, as no studies on the behaviour of the species had been carried out in the wild and "staff (at Mount Bruce) thus had to experiment with a range of techniques to encourage breeding. Success came in 1994 when Daisy, the only wild origin female to ever lay eggs in captivity, finally accepted a mate. Subsequently, breeding has occurred every year- wild origin males contributed genes by pairing with captive raised females"[1]
A small population of 25 captive bred individuals was released on Codfish Island in 1999 and 2000- already intensively managed and pest free as an important habitat for the critically endangered Kakapo. In the final phase of the ecological restoration of Campbell Island, (cattle, sheep and cats had already been removed) the worlds largest rat eradication campaign was undertaken by Helicopter drops of more than 120 tonnes of poisoned bait over the entirety of the island's 11,331 hectare area in 2001- this operation successfully removed what was estimated to be the worlds densest population of Norway rats (200,000) from Campbell Island - it was officially declared rat free in 2003. 50 Campbell Island Teal -a mix of captive bred and wild acclimatised animals (from Codfish) - were reintroduced to Campbell Island in mid 2004, after an absence of more than a century. Subsequent monitoring in 2005 has shown that the majority of these birds are now thriving in their ancestral homeland.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2006). Anas nesiotis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
1. "Forest and Bird", number 319, February 2006; "Snow ducks of the subantarctic" by Helen Gummer
2. "Campbell island teal can go home " -
[edit] External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- Map of Dent Island, Campbell Island and New Zealand and extensive information about the Campbell Island Teal
- The up to date web-page of Pukaha Mount Bruce, the New Zealand national wildlife centre about CI Teal and this facilities involvement with their recovery
- DOC page with information on the both the Campbell and Auckland island teal
- TerraNature page on Campbell Island teal
