Researchers from The University of North Texas have a feather in their caps. The Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program in collaboration with the country of Chile discovered a new bird species.
There are a lot of birds on the planet. They outnumber humans 6 to 1. But there are few birds no one has ever seen or recorded.
Researchers from the University of North Texas can count that as a feather in their caps. The UNT Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program, with international collaborators, discovered a new bird species called the subantarctic rayadito.
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WATCH HERE"It's like the size of your hand," Director of UNT Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program Ricardo Rozzi said.
It took 7-years to demonstrate the bird was one that has never been recorded by science.
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SIGN UP "Friday last week," Rozzi said, referring to the confirmation, "This is absolutely recent!"
"This is very, very remote," Rozzi explained. "At the very southern, southern end of the American continent."
That southern end of the continent is in Chile's Diego Ramirez Archipelago. From North Texas, it takes two flights and a boat or helicopter to get there.
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The rayadito is found living among the gray-headed albatross. "That was actually the eureka moment," Rozzi said.
The birds live at the base of the albatross nests and appear to have a symbiotic relationship with their larger feathered friends.
"These rayaditos eat everything around the nest, so they are cleaners of the nest," Rozzi said. "That's great but we need to prove that now."
Rizzo is part of the UNT Philosophy Department, with an emphasis on environmental philosophy. He said the discovery was a multi-disciplinary group effort that involved UNT, and the Chilean government that gives hope there could be other species on the island chain that has yet to be recorded by science.
"So I would say it's a message of surprise, of sense of hope, but at the same time a call to duty to take care of the planet," Rizzo said.
