Mercury burden hangs heavy round the neck of the albatross
Posted Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:00:00 GMT by Martin Leggett
That omen of goodwill or ill, the albatross, is itself suffering from misfortune, as a result of man's continued emitting of toxic mercury compounds. These have been shown, in new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, to be accumulating in higher amounts in top predators such as albatrosses. This could threaten their survival, by reducing their reproductive success rates, says the analysis of bird feathers collected over the last century.
Mercury burden hangs heavy round the neck of the albatross