DARWIN'S FINCHES LOSING THEIR MATING CALLS

Charles Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" is arguably the most influential book ever published in the history of science. Darwin published the work following an expedition to the Galápagos Islands in 1835, where he became beguiled by the finches there, and how their beaks had evolved in a variety of ways to adapted to different food sources.

But now these very same finches – commonly known as Darwin’s Finches - are themselves under serious threat. Maggots of a parasitic fly are eating the finches’ beaks, causing deformations.  This has the effect of weakening the male bird’s mating call, rendering it indistinguishable from that of other closely related species - consequently making it harder for the birds to find mates and reproduce.

Surveys on the Galápagos islands show that the larvae are now rife and are killing more than half of all nestling finches.  Professor Sonia Kleindorfer conducted new research on Darwin’s Finches for Flinders University in Adelaide, and the University of Vienna, from where she spoke with Richard Collins.

FLIGHTLESS BIRD BACK AFTER 136,000 YEARS OF EXTINCTION

Recent media headlines brought us the news that a flightless bird, which had been extinct for 136,000 years, had returned from the dead after evolving again.  The bird in question is the White-Throated Rail Bird, which lived on the Indian Ocean atoll of Aldabra. The birds became extinct after the atoll sank under rising sea levels.  Now scientists from the University of Portsmouth, and the Natural History Museum in London, say that the birds have come back to life!  Lead researcher Dr. Julian Hume is avian palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum.  He explained what happened to Niall Hatch.

Julian's paper 'Repeated evolution of flightlessness in Dryolimnas rails (Aves: Rallidae) after extinction and recolonization on Aldabra'

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TERRY & TREVOR THE TOAD

Toads have long captured the public imagination of folklore, music and fiction, and one of the world's best-loved toads has got to be Mr. Toad of Toad Hall. He's one of the main characters in the novel The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and is also the title character of the AA Milne play Toad Of Toad Hall, which was based on the book. Dramatised for BBC Radio in 1973, it celebrates the importance of friendship, as a bunch of pals in the English countryside - Mole, Rat, and Badger - try to protect their feckless friend Toad from his own reckless behaviour.

Mr. Toad is an anthropomorphic Common Toad, and it may surprise you to learn that Common Toads are not native to Ireland.  But it appears that the Common Toad is, after all, actually present here.

A public campaign was recently spearheaded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Herpetological Society of Ireland (HSI) to report sightings of the Common Toad in south Dublin and north Wicklow, after they had been seen there in recent years.

(Photo by Terry Flanagan)

The first toad has now been captured by a member of the public on the back of that campaign and has been handed over to the HSI. Trevor, as he has been no doubt called after Trevor's toad in Harry Potter, is now in the home of the HSI Senior Science Officer Rob Gandola.  He is going to be used for information campaigns to raise awareness about toads. Recently, our reporter, Terry Flanagan, paid Rob and Trevor a visit.