1. The Chatham albatross improves its status on a list of endangered species after research reveals the rare species is holding its own, writes Andrew Stone<br />Expand<br />The Chatham albatross, which nest on The Pyramid, a windswept, isolated rock south of the Chatham Islands, have moved to 'vulnerable' on the endangered species list. Photo / Dr Paul Scofield<br />Shrink <br />The Chatham albatross, which nest on The Pyramid, a windswept, isolated rock south of the Chatham Islands, have moved to 'vulnerable' on the endangered species list. Photo / Dr Paul Scofield<br />The Chatham albatross, one of the world's rarest birds, resents visits by seabird researcher Paul Scofield to the windblasted rock they call home.<br />Their displeasure is plain from the foul fluid they spit at him, so repulsive that after three weeks clinging to the steep rocky flanks of The Pyramid, the research team reek terribly of fish oil.<br />For Scofield the odour is worth the trouble.<br />Sorties by New Zealand scientists over the last 40 years to the precipitous volcanic stack just south of the Chatham Islands have confirmed a remarkable conservation success story: the Chatham albatross is no longer critically endangered. <br />Its numbers are stable and its status has improved to quot;
vulnerablequot;
on the latest Red List of threatened species, the world standard of plants and animals at risk of extinction in the wild.<br />It was the only threatened New Zealand species to enhance its survival prospects during what scientists increasingly call the quot;
sixth great extinctionquot;
- an era noted for the disappearance of plants and animals.<br />%3Cbody%3E%3Cdiv%20id%3D%22adDiv%22%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A//ads.apn.co.nz/accipiter/adclick/CID%3Dfffffffcfffffffcfffffffc/aamsz%3D440X400/POS%3DPOS2/SR%3D1/acc_random%3D29097710231/pageid%3D66837803203/site%3DNZH/area%3DSEC.NATIONAL.STY/keyword%3Dalbatross%20fights%20survival%20animals%20environment%20chatham%20world%20rarest%20birds%20resents%20visits%20seabird%20researcher%20paul%20scofield%20windblasted%20rock%20call%20home%20displeasure%20plain%20foul%20fluid%20spit%20repulsive%20three%20weeks%20clinging%20steep%20rocky%20flanks%20pyramid%22%20target%3D_top%3E%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A//apn-images.adbureau.net/apn/accipiter/images/AE0.gif%22%20alt%3D%22%22%20border%3D0%20%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/div%3E<br 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/>Birds species alone now appear to be vanishing at the rate of about one per decade. Last month's update of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List recorded the extinction of the Alaotra grebe, a small bird native to Madagascar. Some 132 bird species are thought to have become extinct since 1600.<br />On The Pyramid however, the resident bird appears to be holding its own.<br />Counts indicate the population has recovered since a violent storm in 1985 wrecked nests and destroyed eggs. Safe longline practices agreed to by New Zealand fishing companies have dramatically cut the number of birds fatally trapped on hooks towed behind trawlers.<br />About 5300 breeding pairs of Chatham albatross nest there on cone-shaped lumps made of bones, feathers and rock chips pasted together with guano or bird droppings. <br />Nests are plastered to ledges and held fast with scraps of vegetation such as ice-plants which somehow survive on the inhospitable monolith.<br />It is the only place on the planet the birds breed. Nests cover less than one hectare of the speck of rock, with birds on lower slopes exposed to threats of massive swells from the Southern Ocean rolling over the base of the 270m high stack.<br />Research trips are demanding. Scofield, who has studied seabirds for 25 years, says parties navigate two-metre swells in inflatable boats across kelp-covered rocks to get ashore.<br />