A translocated population of the Critically Endangered Laysan Duck has reached 200 in only three years.Anas laysanensis is commonly known as the Laysan Duck. It occurs in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, and nowhere else, though it was once found across the Hawaiian Island chain. They were nearly wiped out by 1860, confined thereafter only to Laysan Island.
One of the problems for these ducks is that invasive rats eat their eggs.
In 2004 and 2005, 42 individuals made a 750-mile voyage across the Pacific and were released at Midway Atoll NWR, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to increase the species's geographic distribution and reduce its risk of extinction. With the translocated population more than quadrupling in only three years, researchers are now optimistic that the project will help promote the conservation of this Critically Endangered species.
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