Alaotra Grebe

Delacour Grebe ( Tachybaptus rufolavatus )

The Delacour Grebe ( Tachybaptus rufolavatus ) is a most likely extinct species of grebes, which was endemic to the Lake Alaotra in the northeast of Madagascar.

He was like a wicked little grebe, but was far less colorful in breeding plumage. The red neck areas were yellowish brown at him, his eyes pale yellow. Since the Little Grebe is also found in Madagascar, it was previously often to interspecific hybrids.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) leads the Delacour Little Grebe still in the red list of 2004 threatened to be strong, since no intensive efforts had been made to find any remaining stocks of the species. In a joint press release with BirdLife International, the organization nevertheless pointed to the extinction of the species. The ornithologist Frank Hawkins lay in 2000 found that the type is undoubtedly extinct. There has never been a sighting outside of Lake Alaotra, all alleged findings in other regions of Madagascar, it was apparently to avoid confusion with the Little Grebe or the Madagascar Little Grebe. The very short wings allowed only short flights, which stood in the way of further spread.

Already in the middle of the 20th century was the Delacour Little Grebe is a rarity. 1960 50 Delacour Little Grebe were counted on the lake, but a much larger number meaner Little Grebe. In 1982, twelve counted in 1988 two. After this, the species was not seen again.

There are many reasons for the extinction of the dwarf Delacour - diver. The forests around the lake were cut down and created rice fields. Due to the silting of the bank and the introduction of fertilizers in the lake there were dramatic changes in the microfauna, thus the food of the Delacour - dwarf diver was affected. Exotic fish were introduced, for example, tilapia, which ate up the water lilies and so the birds took the nesting material, and largemouth bass, which ate the food of both divers and their young. The death blow was the bird loudly Hawkins the introduction of predatory snakeheads in the 1980s that could have eaten the few surviving divers. Other causes such as suffocation in fishing nets or displacement by the more adaptable common grebe are conceivable.