Unintended consequences – for the albatross!
Using our Planet as a dustbin!
Once again, a piece in Naked Capitalism caught my eye this time courtesy on one of Yves’ readers who came across this:
These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.
More pictures of this terrible way to treat a magnificent bird are here.
By Paul Handover
Paul Handover
Is it possible that, by natural selection, the more discerning albatross will evolve to avoid man made detritus and revert to eating fish?
tony jackson
October 28, 2009 at 10:41
Tony, what a fascinating theme. Need a handy marine biologist to comment. I seem to have in mind that there are other creatures that have learnt to avoid the dangers of man – isn’t there something about hedgehogs learning to be more cautious about crossing roads?
Paul Handover
October 28, 2009 at 10:56
Paul, about the hedgehogs: yes, there is. My understanding is there has been a shift in their behaviour in response to being surprised; and that, rather than curling up to a ball, an increasing proportion of hedgehogs run away (as other animals do).
I am not sure whether it has been observed that their behaviour when surprised by a vehicle while crossing a road, differs from that when surprised under other circumstances (which would clinch the argument). But, either way, it can be hypothesised that natural selection favours those who run, as the spikes which offer protection against many predators were ineffective against road vehicles!
John Lewis
October 28, 2009 at 11:13
No time for biological evolutionary adaptation. This is a major extinction event we are organizing.
Patrice Ayme
November 4, 2009 at 04:00