Shy by name…
he Shy Albatross Thalassarche
cauta glides over the Indian
Ocean, hoisted on mighty wings
spanning 2.5 metres. These ocean
wanderers often travel the distance between
Australia and South Africa in search of food,
but despite this impressive range, their
breeding colonies are restricted to just three
islands in Tasmania, where all Shy Albatrosses
far and wide return to reproduce.
It’s not only their birthplace to which
individuals remain faithful. When they finally
find ‘the one’, after a great deal of courting
with potential mates, they stay true to that
partner for life. A pair of Shy Albatrosses
will devote all their parental efforts to just
one egg - one chick - each year, sharing the
responsibilities of incubation and feeding.
Such a diligent and deliberate approach
to raising offspring should result in high
breeding success, but humans have brought
threats that all the parental care in the world
cannot always overcome. At the start of the
20th century, populations were decimated by
the harvesting of their feathers, which were
used to plump up mattresses. It was only
when numbers got so low that trade was no
longer viable that the population began to
recover. But having dodged this bullet, the
species now faces a challenge that won’t let
up so easily – climate change.
Increased rainfall has lowered reproductive
success at the aptly-named Albatross Island,
and violent waves are a hazard for the
exposed Pedra Branca colony.
While the climate is an ongoing concern, the
greatest cause of mortality for this bird today
is incidental bycatch by longline fisheries. For
a hungry bird at sea, often with two mouths
to feed, the perilous lure of a fishing vessel is
too great and by chancing a free meal they
become ensnared on fishing hooks. It’s a
cruel twist of fate that the Shy Albatrosses’
lack of shyness around humans has the
species heading towards a classification of
Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. But let’s
not victim blame – the responsibility is
ours. Fortunately our Albatross Task Force is
working directly with fishermen worldwide to
reduce incidents of bycatch.
T
SHY ALBATROSS Diomedea epomophora
Photo Andre Anita/Shutterstock