Light-mantled Albatross

Light-mantled Albatross

News

Rameswaram and adjoining islets of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park on the Adam’s Bridge (Ram Setu) are known for their unique marine ecosystem.

But the region grabbed the attention of international researchers as Asia’s first sighting of Light-mantled Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrate), a species native to the Antarctic seas, was recorded here. The sighting, ‘First Asian record of Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata (Foster, 1785) from Rameswaram Island, Tamil Nadu, India’, has been published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, and researchers are looking for more insights into what is regarded as a surprising transcontinental tour of the Antarctic seabird.

भारत में इनको देखा गया -

 1 “Of late, changes in the wind pattern triggered by global warming are bringing strange birds to our region. 

2 A lot of changes are happening in the wind pattern owing to the increase in atmospheric temperature. 

3 Birds like albatross, that are known to be on the move, use the wind and save their energy during flights.

4  Even slight changes in the temperature can cause drastic changes in the wind pattern and birds could land in far-away places that are not familiar to them

कुछ तथ्य 

It breeds on several sub-Antarctic islands, such as Macquarie Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Australia), South Georgia Island (British Overseas Territory), Prince Edward Islands (South Africa), Iles Kerguelen and Iles Crozet (France), and Auckland, Campbell, and Antipodes Islands (New Zealand). 

The species forage भोजन की तलाश over cold Antarctic waters as far south as the pack ice in summer.

Listed as a ‘Near Threatened’ species by the ICUN

Light-mantled Albatross has a worldwide population of 21,600 breeding pairs, according to an estimate in 1998.