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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Eagles "Cannibalizing" Other Birds as Otters Disappear


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An otter decline in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska has led to more sea urchins, because otters eat the urchins and can keep the spiny sea creatures in check, an October 2008 study says.

But urchins eat kelp forests, which provide habitat for fish that local eagles once relied on for food.

As the kelp-forest fish have dwindled, eagles have begun eating mainly seabirds, the study says.

Illustration by Miranda Mulligan for National Geographic News