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Ben Dilley (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues, writing on-line in the journal Polar Biology, report on ACAP-listed Northern Giant Petrels Macronectes halli as predators of albatross chicks.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Giant petrels Macronectes spp. are not thought to be important predators of albatross chicks, although they are known to kill pre-fledging Thalassarche and Phoebetria albatrosses. We report the first records of predation of healthy great albatross Diomedea spp. chicks, killing wandering albatrosses D. exulans at night on sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Breeding success of this species has decreased markedly in the area where attacks occurred, suggesting that giant petrel predation events are a recent phenomenon. Mouse attacks on wandering albatross chicks may have contributed to the development of this hunting technique. We also report the first observations of giant petrel predation on pre-fledging grey-headed albatross T. chrysostoma chicks as well as additional records of sooty albatross P. fusca chicks being targeted. Only adult northern giant petrels M. halli have been confirmed to kill albatross chicks on Marion Island. Given the threatened status of wandering albatrosses, and the importance of Marion Island for this species, monitoring of their breeding success is necessary to assess whether the predation of chicks by giant petrels spreads around the island.”

The above sequence of infrared motion-activated time-lapse photos taken at night on Marion Island shows a Northern Giant Petrel approaching a Wandering Albatross chick and dragging it off its nest

Photography by Ben Dilley

Northern Giant Petrel at Marion Island.  Photograph by Marienne de Villiers

Reference:

Dilley, B., Davies, D., Connan, M., Cooper, J., de Villiers, N, Swart, L., Vandenebeele, S., Ropert-Coudert, Y. & Ryan, P.G. 2013. Giant petrels as predators of albatross chicks. Polar Biology DOI 10.1007/s00300-013-1300-1.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 February 2013, updated 24 February 2013