British Author, Ross James, has released a children’s book called Giants of South Georgia*. The story centres on a boy called George and his Grandma as they travel to and around South Georgia, and their experiences as they encounter its unique wildlife along the way. 

Told in rhyme and accompanied by water colour illustrations by Olga Volgina, the story capitalises on the literary device of the ‘journey’ to explore its deeper environmental themes whilst celebrating the power of everyday people to make a difference in the world in which they live. 

Ten-year-old reader, Xenia, has reviewed the story saying, 

"A great rhyming, animal book that has a journey through South Georgia inside of it. I liked how Ross repeated some of his lines throughout the book. The pictures of the lovely animals look so grand. I also really like how the king penguin stood up for itself against the grumpy Elephant seal. The message from this book is saying that even if you’re not a superhero you can try to help wildlife."

Author Ross James lives in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* with his wife and children but grew up in England on the Cornish coast. 

Reference:

James, Ross (2022). Giants of South Georgia. BearingSouth. ASIN: B0BBLD8739

28 November 2022

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Northern Royal Albatross, LGK (the male, lime/green/black), captured on Royal Cam, the Department of Conservation's 24-hour live stream of an albatross nest during the breeding season

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DoC) has advised it is likely the four Northern Royal Albatross eggs discovered missing from the Taiaroa Head colony on Thursday 10 November may never be found.

Police are involved in the case and are reviewing CCTV footage gathered from the site itself, Port Otago and Blue Penguins Pukekura in the hope of finding a lead in the investigation. 

With almost all avenues explored and no current breakthroughs in the investigation, it is increasingly feared the missing eggs have been poached.

A more detailed article on the investigation has been published in the Otago Daily Times. 

25 November 2022

French and Spanish versions of the ACAP Species Infographic for the Endangered Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca in support of last year's World Albatross Day and its theme of Climate Change are now available, along with earlier released English version. English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under, Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

The infographic in the three official ACAP languages has been co-published with South Africa's Mouse-Free Marion Project, which aims to eradicate the island’s introduced House Mice Mus musculus.  The mice have taken to attacking and killing the seabirds, including its breeding Sooty Albatrosses – as is illustrated in the infographic.

Versions in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish are now available for all nine ACAP albatross infographics produced to date.  Available in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3) and in a web version, the infographic may be freely downloaded and used non-commercially and with acknowledgement in the support of albatross conservation.

The Sooty Albatross Infographic follows on from the eight previously produced for the Endangered Antipodean Diomedea antipodensis, Near Threatened Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes, Endangered Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma, Near Threatened Laysan P. immutabilis, Near Threatened Shy T. cauta, Critically Endangered Tristan D. dabbenena, Vulnerable Wandering D. exulans and the Critically Endangered Waved Phoebastria irrorata Albatrosses.

All the infographics have been created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim who has also produced a poster illustrating the albatrosses depicted on the infographics (click here).

Sponsorships for a further six infographics have been obtained, including for three ACAP-listed petrels.  It is intended that some at least of these will be prepared in time for the fourth World Albatross Day and its theme of "Plastic Pollution" on 19 June next year.

John Cooper, ACAP News Correspondent, 24 November 2022

The XIII SCAR Biology Symposium will be held in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand), 31 July – 4 August 2023. It will be the first SCAR meeting in three years to take place face-to-face.

The Symposium will feature a comprehensive schedule of keynotes, plenaries and concurrent sessions with a mid-week break for social activities. Organisers have placed particular emphasis on enhancing the program with the “tikanga (traditions) and mātauranga (knowledge) of New Zealand’s indigenous knowledge (mātauranga Māori people)”. Satellite meetings and workshops are to be held the weekends either side of the Symposium.

Support for early career researchers to attend the Symposium will be available.

The call for abstracts opens 7 December 2022 with a deadline of 21 March 2023. More information on the Symposium, including a full list of important dates is available from the conference website.

23 November 2022