colonies

In 2004, Phillip Island launched a campaign to eliminate foxes after nine of its 10 little-penguin colonies had vanished; alongside habitat restoration, the surviving colony grew from 12,000 to 40,000 birds

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In 2004, Phillip Island launched a campaign to eliminate foxes after nine of its 10 little-penguin colonies had vanished; alongside habitat restoration, the surviving colony grew from 12,000 to 40,000 birds

Phillip Island’s little penguins once faced a crisis that threatened to erase much of their presence from the island. By the 1980s, nine of its 10 penguin colonies had disappeared, while the final colony on the Summerland Peninsula was also under pressure from introduced predators, habitat loss and human activity. According to Phillip Island Nature … Read more

In 2015, Hawaii rescued fragments of a coral found only in Kaneohe Bay; after its wild colonies disappeared, scientists grew it in a nursery and returned it to the reef

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In 2015, Hawaii rescued fragments of a coral found only in Kaneohe Bay; after its wild colonies disappeared, scientists grew it in a nursery and returned it to the reef

Acropora muricata, Heron Island, Australia. (Photo Credit: Claire Lager, Smithsonian) A rare coral species found nowhere else on Earth except Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii has been successfully returned to its natural habitat after completely disappearing from the wild. The recovery project was led by the Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery, a facility run by the state … Read more

In 2022, bird flu caused an entire Sandwich tern colony in England to be abandoned; four breeding seasons later, the birds have returned in record numbers, creating one of the country’s largest colonies

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In 2022, bird flu caused an entire Sandwich tern colony in England to be abandoned; four breeding seasons later, the birds have returned in record numbers, creating one of the country’s largest colonies

Four breeding seasons after a deadly bird flu outbreak forced a colony of Sandwich Terns to leave their nesting ground, the seabirds have returned in record numbers, creating one of England’s largest breeding sites. Monitoring reports published by Rare Bird Alert confirm that Sandwich Terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) nested at RSPB Pagham Harbour in West Sussex … Read more

In 1815, cats arrived on Ascension Island; they drove huge seabird colonies away until conservationists launched a cat-eradication mission

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In 1815, cats arrived on Ascension Island; they drove huge seabird colonies away until conservationists launched a cat-eradication mission

A feral cat with a tipped ear, indicating it was neutered in a trap-neuter-return program. Images Credit: Brocken Inaglory/Wikipedia Ascension Island offers a striking example of how quickly an introduced predator can reshape an island’s wildlife. Cats brought to the South Atlantic island in 1815 preyed heavily on seabirds, driving almost all species away from … Read more