Australian swans threaten native swans
July 26th, 2009 | by Nick |
Australian black swans are spreading across Britain and threatening native white and mute swans. The birds have escaped from private collections and are now breeding at dozens of sites across the country. They are more aggressive, and they may “out compete” native swans for food and habitat in many areas. There may also be a problem of interbreeding. A BTO project found 500 reports of black swans, in at least 170 different locations around the UK. The black swan is currently not on the British List of birds, compiled by the BTO because the population was not considered to be self-sustaining at the last review. This may now change in the light of the new information. The black swan occurs naturally in western, eastern and southeastern Australia, Tasmania, and southern New Guinea. The Indepedent
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