Mark Shuttleworth donates $1m to save the world’s largest flying bird

A Wandering Albatross family on Marion Island. Image credit: Danielle Keys

A quarter of the world’s population of Wandering Albatrosses breeds in South Africa’s Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

On the island, they are being attacked and killed by introduced house mice, putting them at a high risk of local extinction.

The Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion Project aims to eradicate the mice by the aerial distribution of a rodenticide-laced cereal bait.

This is a well-proven technique regarded as international “best practice” and the only approach that has been successful in eradicating invasive rodents from large islands.

It has been used with great success on many seabird islands around the world that are now being “rewilded” as their seabird populations recover.

The donation from Mark Shuttleworth will help realise the project’s goal.

Environment & Natural Resources

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Mark D Anderson, CEO of BirdLife South Africa, writes: “A few weeks ago, I had a fascinating discussion with Mark Shuttleworth.

“His passion for the Mouse-Free Marion Project was evident. His support is hugely gratifying.”

Founder and CEO of Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux operating system, Mark Shuttleworth. Image credit: Canonical

Mark Shuttleworth is a South African-born tech entrepreneur.

He initially specialised in digital certificates and internet security, first developed in his parents’ Cape Town garage while still a student at the University of Cape Town.

Shuttleworth made headlines in 2002 when, still in his 20s, he became the first South African (and African) to venture into space, spending eight days helping conduct scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station.

He is the founder and CEO of Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux operating system.

Dr Anton Wolfaardt, Mouse-Free Marion Project manager, said: “Mark Shuttleworth’s remarkable contribution provides a huge boost to our endeavour to restore Marion Island’s ecosystem.

“His generosity not only strengthens our capacity to deliver this globally significant conservation effort but also inspires others to support the protection of one of our planet’s most extraordinary wild places.”

The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a joint project of BirdLife South Africa and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate.

For more information or to support the project, please visit mousefreemarion.org.