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www.telegraph.co.uk said:
Conservationists were today celebrating the first successful steps in an attempt to save the world's rarest duck from extinction.
Fewer than 20 Madagascar pochard are believed to be living on just one lake in the wild.
The critically endangered duck is so rare that it was declared extinct in the late 1990s until scientists found a few of the birds by chance during a trip to Madagascar in 2006.
To stop the beautiful cinnamon-coloured diving duck slipping permanently into extinction a team of bird specialists devised a conservation plan.
They were hoping to collect some of the pochards' eggs, incubate them and raise the ducklings via a conservation breeding programme.
But an emergency rescue plan was mounted ahead of schedule after a visit in July revealed the situation was worse than feared - with just six females seen and evidence that young had died when only a few weeks old.
Read more...
Fewer than 20 Madagascar pochard are believed to be living on just one lake in the wild.
The critically endangered duck is so rare that it was declared extinct in the late 1990s until scientists found a few of the birds by chance during a trip to Madagascar in 2006.
To stop the beautiful cinnamon-coloured diving duck slipping permanently into extinction a team of bird specialists devised a conservation plan.
They were hoping to collect some of the pochards' eggs, incubate them and raise the ducklings via a conservation breeding programme.
But an emergency rescue plan was mounted ahead of schedule after a visit in July revealed the situation was worse than feared - with just six females seen and evidence that young had died when only a few weeks old.
Read more...
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