Bald eagle diet shift enhances conservation
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 10:51
in Paleontology & Archaeology
An unprecedented study of bald eagle diet, from about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to the present, will provide wildlife managers with unique information for reintroducing Bald Eagles to the Channel Islands off California. The scientists, including researchers from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, found that eagles fed mainly on seabirds from about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to the 1840s and 50s, when humans introduced sheep. The seabirds provided an abundant source of carrion for the local eagle population until the pesticide DDT wiped out the eagles in the 1960s. The results are published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA the week of May 3, 2010...