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From: andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird War Victims
Message-ID: <1933@cluster.cs.su.oz.au>
Date: 29 Jan 91 00:39:17 GMT
References: <11153@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Sender: news@cluster.cs.su.oz.au
Reply-To: andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor)
Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia
Lines: 22

In article <11153@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> mike@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu
(Mike W. Burger) writes:
> 	I have seen only one type of oiled bird from the slicks
> in the Persian Gulf.  Who knows what species of sea birds are
> at risk in that part of the world?  Are there any species that
> are both endangered and found only in that area, thus subject
> to extinction danger from war-related activities?

I don't think there are any birds likely to made extinct by the Gulf war.
No endangered bird has a significant portion of its range in the likely
war zone. (I was told of an endangered petrel in the midst of the
iran-iraq war but I can't find any that fit). The only endangered mammals
I know of which could be made extinict are a little known species of bat
(euphrates seritone?) and a subspecies of the fallow deer which may not have
survived the iran-iraq war.

I don't know which migrants use the Persian gulf as a stop-over. Unlike
the Red Sea I believe the Persian gulf has few endemic fish. Though it
certainly has some. Hopefully enough of the gulf will remain intact to
repopulate the destroyed coral reefs in the 15-25+ years they take to recover.

Andrew Taylor