Environment

Northern Rockhopper Penguin species nears extinction

by Amy Judd | January 17, 2009 at 02:29 pm

1006 views | 17 Recommendations | 4 comments

The population of the Northern Rockhopper Penguin have declined by 90 percent in 50 years, and this species once had numbers in the million. Now the largest colonies are on Gough Island, with 32,000 to 65,000 pairs and on Tristian da Cunha Island, with 40,000 to 50,000 pairs.

These are two island in the South Atlantic, and in these two areas, it accounts for 80 percent of the total species population.

Possible reasons for the penguins to be declining could be due to climate change, overfishing and changes to the marine ecosystems.

"Historically, we know that penguins were exploited by people, and that wild dogs and pigs probably had an impact on their numbers," Richard Cuthbert of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. "However, these factors cannot explain the staggering declines since the 1950s, when we have lost upwards of a million birds from Gough and Tristan."

"The declines at Gough since the 1950s are equivalent to losing 100 birds every day for the last 50 years", he added.

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Barry Artiste

at 17:56 on January 17th, 2009

good story Amy, thanks

Paschen

at 05:56 on January 18th, 2009

Hum, Not what I wanted to hear, read or know. I would have liked the opposite news that they are or would recover....

wageoghe (not verified)

at 09:51 on January 18th, 2009

I'm surprised the story doesn't mention another possible cause: the giant mice that are devastating other bird populations on Gough island. Google "gough island mice" to find out more about them.

Fripouille

at 04:59 on January 19th, 2009

90%!!

I am not an expert here, but I would agree with Mr Cuthbert that climate, overfishing and ecosystem changes, although lamentable phenomena, do not appear to be enough to explain this figure . These changes have been well-documented. There's something else going on here.....

Excellent post, thanks!!