BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-04)

April 2020 BBC Wildlife 25

WILDNEWS

Guamrail

CONSERVATIONREPORT

Thismonth,biologistLauraBarnhartDuenas

shines a spotlight on a recovering rail species.

Howdidthisightlessspecies

becomeextinctinthewild?

A lotofshipmentswerecomingto

Guam,a USislandterritoryinthe

westernPacific,inanefforttorebuild

theislandafterWorldWarII,andthe

browntreesnakewasaccidentally

introduced.Theisland’sbirdshad

neverencountereda predatorlike

thisbeforeand,consequently,both

theGuamrailandGuamkingfisher

becameextinctinthewild.

HowwastheGuamrail saved

fromextinction?

Oncethethreatofthesnakehad

beenidentified,staffattheGuam

DepartmentofAgriculture,Division

ofAquaticandWildlifeResourcestried

tocaptureasmanynativebirdson

Guam,includingtherail,aspossible.

Theybroughtinanythingtheycould

find,fromadultstochicksandeven

eggsfromthenest.Thoughtheywere

abletocatcha fewindividualsfrom

everyspecies,onlythehardierbirds

wereabletosurviveincaptivity.

Whyhastherailbeenreclassied

asCriticallyEndangered?

Between 2010 and2012, 26 Guamrails

werereleasedontoCocos,a tinyisland

just off the southern tip of Guam where

snakesarenotpresent.OnRota,part

oftheMarianaIslands,GuamRails

havealsobeensteadilyintroduced

sincethe1990s,involving,attimes,

asmanyas 100 birdsperyear.Though

therearen’tanyGuamrailsinthewild

onGuam,theyhavebeenbreedingon

RotaandCocos,andtheirpopulation

hasbeenstableforthepastfiveyears–

approximately 260 railsexisthere,more

thanincaptivity.It is onlythesecond

birdspeciestocomebackfrombeing

classifiedasextinctinthewild.

Whathappensnext?

Workis beingdonebyourpartners

intheUSGovernmenttoresearch

methodsofsnakecontrolandtoensure

theydon’tspreadtootherlocations.We

arelookingatusingtheirtechniquesto

helpprepareareasonGuamtobeable

toreleasetherailintothewild,using

thepopulationsonRotaandCocos

Islandassourcepopulations,in

additiontocaptive-bred birds.

Megan Shersby

Teachingnew

dogs old tricks

CANINES

T

heabilitytointerprethumansocial

communicativecuesthatenables

a domesticdogtogoaftera balland

thenbringit backalsoexistsinwolves,

accordingtoiScience.

ResearchersatStockholmUniversity

discoveredeight-week-oldgreywolf

puppiesunexpectedlyshowedan

interestina ballandreturnedit to

a completestrangeruponrequest.

Thediscoveryis a surprisebecause

it hadbeenhypothesisedthatthe

cognitiveabilitiesnecessarytoplaya

gameoffetcharoseindogsonlyafter

humansdomesticatedthematleast

15,000yearsago.

Duringa standardisedtest, 13

wolfpupswerevocallyencouraged

toretrievea ballfroma humanthey

hadnevermetbeforeandthreewere

observedretrievingtheballatleast

twotimes.

“Iliterallygotgoosebumps,”says

co-authorChristinaHansenWheat.

“Itwassounexpected– I immediately

knewthismeantthatif variation

inhuman-directedplaybehaviour

existsinwolves,thisbehaviourcould

havebeena potentialtargetforearly

selectivepressuresexertedduring

dogdomestication.”

HansenWheatsuggeststhestudy

highlightstheneedforincreased

rigorindogdomesticationstudies,

intermsofincludingenoughwolves

toadequatelydetectunderlying trait

variationinbehaviour.

KatyLayton

FINDOUTMORE

iScience:bit.ly/37Bivlb

LAURABARNHARTDUENASisa

wildlifebiologistworkingwiththe

GuamDepartmentofAgriculture.

REDLIST

STATUS:

CRITICALLY

ENDANGERED

FINDOUTMORE

HowtheGuamrailcamebackfrom

extinction:birdlife.org/guam-rail

Gonebutnot

forgotten– plans

areinplaceto

returntheGuam

rail to Guam.

Somewolfpups

arefondofa

game of fetch.