COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE

Species Under Threat

Issue Date: 6 October 1997





17p - Johnny Rook (phalcoboenus australis)

The Falkland Islands hold most of the world's population of the Striated Caracara, a rare bird of prey, known locally as the Johnny Rook. Its reputation for attacking sheep and lambs has meant that it has been widely persecuted by farmers and this has led to a serious decline in numbers. Today it breeds almost exclusively on remote offshore islands where it depends on colonial seabirds for most of its food. To determine its current status Falklands Conservation, at the request of Falkland Islands Government, will be conducting a survey of this species during 1997/98.


19p - Sea Lion (Otaria flavescens)

The Falkland Islands once held a large proportion of the world's Southern Sea Lions. Falklands Conservation have recently conducted the first comprehensive survey of breeding populations since 1965 and this has revealed a decline to around 2% of 1930s populations. Evidence suggests that the sealing industry may have been responsible for much of this decline, but it is not clear why it continued after the cessation of sealing in the 1960s. It may be linked to changes in the marine ecosystem but further investigation is urgently needed.


40p - Felton's Flower (Calandrinia feltonii)

This plant, named after Arthur Felton, a sheep farmer from West Point Island who first made it known to science, is found only in the Falkland Islands. With a naturally restricted distribution linked to dry, warm soil conditions, the plant proved vulnerable to sheep grazing and has been extinct in the wild from the beginning of this century. Falklands Conservation, in association with the Falklands Department of Agriculture and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are implementing a recovery plan to re-introduce this beautiful plant to the wild using recently discovered flourishing populations in private gardens.


73p - Local Trout (Aplochiton zebra)

One of only two Falklands indigenous freshwater fish, it is also known locally as the zebra trout due to the dark bands gracing its flanks. It was first described by Darwin, visiting the Islands in 1833-4, as being very common. Today it has its strongholds in the southern part of East Falkland (lafonia) and in the south and west of West Falkland existing in rivers, streams and ditches which do not contain the introduced salmonid Salmo trutta. In rivers where the introduced species prospers, interspecific competition is thought to have eradicated the population of indigenous fish. Expansion of the range of the introduced species represents a significant threat to the success and survival of the remaining local trout populations.

Since the Falklands were first settled in the middle of the 18th century their native wildlife has been treatened. Grazing has radically altered the natural vegetation and fire added to its destruction. Seals and penguins were slaughtered in their hundreds of thousands for skins and oil. Introduced rats and cats have significantly reduced populations of ground nesting and burrowing birds. Many other species have been persecuted as pests. The native fox, the Warrah, was driven to extinction in the 1870s. Today these threats have diminished, but new ones have arisen as the Islands' economy diversifies and the human population expands. Commercial fisheries, increased stocking levels of sheep, the expansion of tourism, and not least the prospect of an offshore oil industry are new pressures on the Falklands precious natural environment.

This information was prepared by Falklands Conservation with assistance from Dr Conor Nolan, Falkland Islands Fisheries Department. Falklands Conservation is a charity established to protect the wildlife which makes the Falklands so special. To find out more about its work with species under threat, please visit their web site at www.falklands-nature.demon.co.uk.



Technical details of stamps:

Designer: Sonia Felton
Printer: The House of Questa
Process: Lithography
Stamp Size: 27.94 x 44.45 mm
Pane Size: 50 (2 x 25)
Perforation: 14 per 2 cms
Watermark: CA Spiral Script
Values: 17p, 19p, 40p and 73p




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