ZECO TRAVEL TALK

It is now official, a recently published paper in the journal Polar Biology, confirms what many of us have long suspected, there is more than one species of Rockhopper penguin out there!

For many years debates have raged with many an ornithologist having his feathers ruffled on the topic to split or not to split. The recent paper, by Banks et al. compared the genetic distances between the three Rockhopper subspecies and compared them with such sister species as Macaroni penguins. The results left Banks and his colleagues in no doubt, the three putative Rockhopper subspecies, currently living far apart in different areas of the Southern oceans, should be split into the following three species;

Rockhopper Penguin, Eudyptes chrysocome

Northern Rockhopper, Eudyptes moseleyi

Eastern Rockhopper, Eudyptes filhoi

This change in penguin taxonomy will now increase the number of penguin species from 17 to 19. For all of you that have traveled to Antarctica you will have seen Rockhopper Penguin as this is the species that is now restricted, as a breeding species, to islands off South America and the Falkland Islands. For those of you lucky enough to have traveled with Zegrahm on our historical Steppingstones of the Atlantic voyage, several years ago, you will now be able to check off Northern Rockhopper Penguin, as this was the species that we all saw so wonderfully well on Inaccessible Island. This species is now restricted to the islands of Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, and St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands in the Indian Ocean. Finally we have the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin which is restricted as a breeding species to Crozet, Kerguelan, Heard, Macquarie, Auckland, Campbell, Bounty, Antipodes, Marion, and Prince Edward Islands. Read more

As part of the New England Aquarium Lecture series, Jack Grove, Zegrahm Cofounder and marine expert, will present Galapagos: A Laboratory for Global Marine Conservation on October 9, 2007 at the Harborside Learning Lab of the New England Aquarium in Boston. Marine ecosystems around the globe are currently threatened by an array of forces. Jack has spent 25 years visiting, studying, and photographing some of the world’s most breathtaking seascapes. Using a number of these ecosystems as background, he will share the unusual beauty and conservation challenges of the Galapagos and discuss the conservation and management programs in effect there, which may provide answers for other fragile island ecosystems. For more information about the lecture, go to www.neaq.org/lowellprograms.

Our clients are a loyal and tight group. They are also our friends. New travelers come on our expeditions meet these travelers, get to know them, and then become one of them… We at Zegrahm & Eco Expeditions are very, very lucky and we know it.

For several years we have been considering different ways to create a space where our travelers could communicate with each other—after an expedition. To protect your privacy while on our trips we don’t give out contact lists. This means you are frantically going around on the last few days of your trip collecting e-mails and addresses of these new found friends. We hope Zegrahm Travel Talk will be a community space where our travelers can find each other again—and be a place to share those perfect photos you took of that penguin on the beach… you and your new friends at sunset on the top deck… You promised to share those photos and now we hope we’ve made that easier for you. Read more

In May 2007, I represented Zegrahm Expeditions at an annual conference of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association (IGTOA) in Guayaquil, Ecuador. “IGTOA is a nonprofit association of travel companies, conservation organizations, and other groups that seek a lasting protection of the Galápagos Islands. We lobby for conservation, fund projects, and promote and practice sustainable tourism.” http://www.igtoa.org

The conference involved several presentations, conservation workshops, and funding proposals for the Galápagos Islands (the islands are considered a living marvel of evolution and are located approximately 600 miles directly west of Ecuador following the Equator). Most importantly though, and preceding UNESCO’s recent World Heritage in Danger declaration, the meeting involved heated debates on what the travel industry can do to alleviate the surmounting threats towards the conservation of the “Enchanted Isles.” Read more