Paul Alexander Zino (9 February 1916 – 3 March 2004) was a British businessman and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

after whom

Zino's petrel Zino's petrel (''Pterodroma madeira'') or the freira, is a species of small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Endemism, endemic to the island of Madeira. This long-winged petrel has a grey back and wings, with a dark "W" marking across the wings ...

(''Pterodroma madeira'') is named. Zino was born in

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

to a British family of land dealers and was educated in England at St. Edmund's College, Ware, and studied languages at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

. In 1963, he took part in an expedition to the

Savage Islands The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands ( ; also known as the Salvage Islands) are a small Portugal, Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Madeira and north of the Canary Islands.30,000), white-faced storm-petrel (>80,0 ...

and was shocked to see the annual slaughter of shearwaters by fishermen. He then bought out all hunting rights to the islands to prevent hunting. Returning in 1967, Zino built a house, employing fishing folk who had been put out of hunting business, and began studying the breeding biology of

Cory's shearwater Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on the archipelago of the Azores in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. ...

s (''Calonectris borealis''). A coup in Portugal in 1974 encouraged the local fishermen to go on a rampage and destroy all the birds and Zino's research station. This vandalism prompted the government to take up protection of the birds and led to the inclusion of the islands in the Madeira Natural Park in 1986. Zino also visited the Desertas Islands, studying the Fea's petrel (''Pterodroma feae''). This led to an interest in the smaller '' P. madeira'' which had first been discovered in 1903 on Madeira itself. Zino managed, by playing calls of the birds to local informants, to rediscover the location of the colony and protect it. Zino was awarded the Commendador da Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique by Portugal in 1990 and a Certificate of Merit from the UK in 1988.

References

1916 births 2004 deaths People from Madeira Portuguese ornithologists People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware 20th-century British zoologists {{ornithologist-stub