Seychelles News

If there were a Guinness Book of World Records for birds, the frigatebird would be in it for having the largest wing area-to-body weight ratio of any species. Its wingspan often exceeds two metres in length and it weighs less than 1.6 kilograms, which enables it to soar continuously, only…

A fish aggregation device, or FAD as it is commonly called, is generally a very simple, low-cost structure that increases fishing efficiency. It typically comprises a bamboo raft fitted with buoys for flotation (Figure 1) and has long ropes and netting hanging beneath it (Figure 2). A floating location beacon…

Words by Kerryn Bullock Often people are so caught up in the big things around them, like sharks, turtles and birds, that the little creatures are overlooked. One such little creature that doesn’t get enough credit is the crab. Crabs scuttle around our feet day and night on D’Arros and…

Words by: Kerryn Bullock Those who suffer from ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) would find solace on snake-free D’Arros Island. And though the island may lack snakes, it does possess other kinds of reptiles. There are, for example, the larger and more obvious species like the giant tortoise that has been…

Words by Kerryn Bullock The wedge-tailed shearwater Puffinus pacificus is the largest of the tropical shearwaters. This marine species is unremarkable in appearance, both sexes being dark brown above and below, with a dark grey bill and a wedge-shaped tail. It does, however, have two great characteristics that make it…

Words by Rainer von Brandis Ask any marine biologist what the favourite part of their job is and they will undoubtedly say that it’s the field work. Yet normal career development dictates that scientists spend more and more time in the office as the years go by, their days consumed…

Words by Kerryn Bullock One of the many awesome creatures roaming freely on D’Arros Island in the Seychelles is the prehistoric-looking Aldabra giant tortoise Geochelone gigantea. The island is privileged to be home to a free-ranging population of these magnificent, slow-moving creatures. Some individuals may live for more than 100 years…

Words by Chris Boyes On 23 December 2014 we noticed an adult fairy tern Gygis alba (also known as white tern) sitting for an unusually long time on a branch of the badamier tree Terminalia catappa outside the D’Arros Research Centre. At the time we thought there must be something…