Professor Rob Heinsohn ‘Can we save Swift Parrots from their introduced predators?’

Rob, Professor of Evolutionary and Conservation Biology at the ANU, will outline the impact of introduced sugar gliders on nesting Swift Parrots in Tasmania, and ponder the long-term future of these threatened birds.

Rob Heinsohn is Professor of Evolutionary and Conservation Biology at the Australian National University and has been working on threatened species conservation for over twenty years. He combines his interests in conservation, animal behaviour, and evolutionary biology by working on a range of species but has developed a special fondness for parrots. He has also worked on cooperative breeding in white-winged choughs, lions in East Africa, and Eclectus parrots and palm cockatoos on Cape York Peninsula.

Huge numbers of female swift parrots in Tasmania are eaten on the nest by introduced sugar gliders, with population projections suggesting the birds will be extinct within 20 years. This talk outlines research into both the problem and possible solutions.