A New Sanctuary in the Seychelles

Abstract

For years conservationists have urged that Cousin Island hi the Seychelles should be made a wildlife sanctuary, so it is welcome news that the International Council for Bird Preservation, aided by the British National Appeal of the World Wildlife Fund, has acquired an option to buy the island if it can raise the money hi tune. A research station will be set up, with a full-time warden to study the whole of this interesting archipelago hi the Indian Ocean. The Seychelles are important for the large numbers of endemic birds there. In the early eighteenth century, when colonists first settled hi the islands, about a dozen species occurred on most of them. But with increasing human settlements the birds decreased, some became extinct, and now most of the endemic ones are to be found on only one or two islands. In this article Malcolm Penny, a member of the 1964—65 Bristol University Seychelles Expedition, describes the island and the more interesting birds. The photographs of Cousin opposite are by him.