Amsterdam Albatross

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Amsterdam Albatross
Albatros d'amsterdam.jpg

Amsterdam albatross ( Diomedea amsterdamensis )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Tubular noses (Procellariiformes)
Family : Albatrosses (Diomedeidae)
Genre : Diomedea
Type : Amsterdam Albatross
Scientific name
Diomedea amsterdamensis
Roux , Jouventin , Mougin , Stahl & Weimerskirch , 1983

The Amsterdam Albatross ( Diomedea amsterdamensis ), sometimes referred to as the Amsterdam Island Albatross , is a very rare species of albatross that only breeds on the Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean .

features

The Amsterdam Albatross reaches a total length of 115 cm. The wingspan is 300 cm and the weight is 5 to 8 kg. Although the females are smaller than the males, the sexual dimorphism of the Amsterdam albatross is less pronounced than that of the other large albatross species. The upper side of the adult birds is almost uniformly chocolate brown. The face mask and throat are white. A brown ribbon runs across the chest. The underbust and the belly are white, the under wing-coverts are white with a dark tip. The dark leading edge of the under wing coverts is probably wider than that of the wandering albatross. The big beak is pink. During the breeding season it turns deep pink. A thin black cut edge runs along the upper beak. The upper and lower beak have dark tips. The legs and feet are light.

Habitat and way of life

Adult bird with young animal

The breeding sites are limited to the central plateau of the Amsterdam Island, the so-called Plateau des Tourbières , at an altitude of between 500 and 600 m and have been separated from the cattle by a protective fence since 1987. There has been a second fence since 1992. The Amsterdam Albatross enters into a lifelong relationship. It is incubated every two years. The breeding season begins in February, with most eggs being laid in late February and March. The young fledged in January and February of the following year. The immature albatrosses return to their breeding territory between the ages of four and seven. However, they are only sexually mature after nine years. The diet of the Amsterdam albatross is not exactly known; it is believed to consist of fish, squid and molluscs. During the breeding season, it searches for food both in the waters off the Amsterdam Island and up to 2,200 kilometers away in subtropical waters.

Existence and endangerment

BirdLife International classifies the Amsterdam Albatross in the “ critically endangered ” category . Although the population has increased since 1984, a census in 2001 only showed 130 specimens. Among them were 80 sexually mature birds, of which 18 to 25 pairs brooded annually. Between 2001 and 2007, 24 to 31 breeding pairs were counted. In the 1970s and early 1980s, longline fishing is believed to have contributed to the decline in the stock. Today, the main threat comes from the destruction and degradation of breeding sites by grazing cattle, human disturbance, the stalking of feral domestic cats and the spread of the bacteria Pasteurella multocida and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathidae , which are responsible for the high mortality of chicks. Furthermore, the feeding grounds of the Amsterdam albatrosses overlap with the fishing grounds of the tuna fishing fleet, so that there is a potential risk that the albatrosses perish as bycatch in the longline nets. In 2010 the inventory was 100 copies.

Systematics

The Amsterdam albatross was described as a new species in 1983. Since then, there have been controversial discussions about taxonomic status. Various authors, including William Richmond Postle Bourne (1989), Stephen Marchant and Peter Jeffrey Higgins (1990) and John Warham (1990), only classified it as a subspecies of the wandering albatross . The scientists Derek Rains, Henri Weimerskirch and Theresa M. Burg from the University of Lethbridge , Canada and from the CEBC - CNRS in Villiers-en-Bois , France therefore examined the DNA of the Amsterdam albatross, the antipodal albatross and the Tristan albatross and the wandering albatross and came to the conclusion that the Amsterdam albatross is genetically most closely related to the wandering albatross, but a species status is recommended due to morphometric differences and differences in plumage. The International Ornithological Congress followed this study in 2011 and classified the Amsterdam albatross as a separate species.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d D. Onley, P. Scofield: Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World. 2007, p. 126.
  2. ^ A b M. Brooke, J. Cox: Albatrosses and Petrels across the World. 2004.
  3. ↑ James McQuilken: The Mists of Time . Ed .: Rolf Stange. 1st edition. Spitzbergen.de, Dassow 2012, ISBN 978-3-937903-15-6 , chap. "Current Population Development and Threat", p. 137 (English: The Mists of Time . Translated by Rolf Stange, page 21).
  4. ↑ J.-P. Roux, P. Jouventin, J.-L. Mougin, J.-C. Stahl, H. Weimerskirch: Un nouvel albatros Diomedea amsterdamensis n. Sp. decouvert sue l'ile Amsterdam (37850'S, 77835'E). In: L'oiseau et la revue francaise d'ornithologie. 53, 1983, pp. 1-11.
  5. ^ WRP Bourne: The evolution, classification and nomenclature of the great albatrosses. In: Le Gerfaut. 79, 1989, pp. 105-116.
  6. ^ S. Marchant, PJ Higgins: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1990.
  7. ↑ J. Warham: The petrels: Their ecology and breeding systems. Academic Press, London 1990.
  8. ↑ a b D. Rains et al .: Piecing together the global population puzzle of wandering albatrosses. 2011, pp. 69-79.
  9. ↑ IOC World Bird Names Version 2.11 ( Memento from April 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

literature

  • M. Brooke, J. Cox: Albatrosses and Petrels across the World . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-850125-0 .
  • C. Carboneras: Family Diomedeidae (Albatrosses). In: J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1992, p. 211.
  • E. Hirschfeld (Ed.): The Rare Birds Yearbook 2008. MagDig Media, Shrewsbury 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552607-3-5 , p. 97.
  • Derek Onley, Paul Scofield: Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World. 2007, ISBN 978-0-691-13132-0 , p. 126.
  • D. Rains, H. Weimerskirch, TM Burg: Piecing together the global population puzzle of wandering albatrosses: genetic analysis of the Amsterdam albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis. In: Journal of Avian Biology. 42 (1), January 2011, pp. 69-79. doi: 10.1111 / j.1600-048X.2010.05295.x (PDF, online)
  • J. McQuilken: The Mists of Time. Spitzbergen.de, Nov 2012, p. 21.

Web links

Commons : Amsterdam Albatross ( Diomedea amsterdamensis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files