which is easier? sniping a quarter million goats? or poisoning a million rats on an island like this? or convincing the locals that these are good ideas? the more challenging part is working in partnership with communities, so that essentially, they make the decisions. yeah. that they don t want, you know, rats and cats on their island. and then what they want is mockingbirds and floreana tortoises back on their island, and not to have, you know, impacts to their crops. right. but if you think his job is hard, meet francesca cottingham. she s devoted her life to saving the most endangered species in galapagos, the mangrove finch. there s an abandoned nest up here. it s kind of bird that hides
which is easier? sniping a quarter million goats? or poisoning a million rats on an island like this? or convincing the locals that these are good ideas? the more challenging part is working in partnership with communities, so that essentially, they make the decisions. yeah. that they don t want, you know, rats and cats on their island. and then what they want is mockingbirds and floreana tortoises back on their island, and not to have, you know, impacts to their crops. right. but if you think his job is hard, meet francesca cottingham. she s devoted her life to saving the most endangered species in galapagos, the mangrove finch. there s an abandoned nest up
it s the kind of bird that hides deep in these swampy mangrove jungle gyms on isabela. how can you tell it s amman donndon abandoned from here? okay. oh, the mangrove finch. did you hear that? toot, toot, toot. that s a good sign all right. they say completely hidden during our hike. but here s footage from francesca s team. not only are these birds threatened by rats but in the 1950s a random load of cargo brought a certain kind of fly to the galapagos, a fly that feeds on the little beaks of baby finches. it s sort of like a horror story really, that the fly lies its eggs in the nest, then the first larval stage enters the nasal cavities of the nestlings, so a lot of the birds die.
which is easier, sniping a quarter million goats or poisoning a million rats on an island like this or convincing the locals that these are good ideas? the more challenging part is working in partnership, you know, with communities so that essentially they make the decisions, that they don t want, you know, rats and cats on their island. and what they want is mockingbirds and floreana tortoises back on their island and not to have, you know, impacts to their crops. right. but if you think his job is hard, meet francesca cunningham. she s devoted her life to saving the most endangered species in galapagos, the mangrove finch. there s an abandoned nest up here.