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

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

after whom

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

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

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

to a British family of land dealers and was educated in England at

St. Edmund's College, Ware St Edmund's College is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operating and ...

, and studied languages at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

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

Savage Islands The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands ( pt, Ilhas Selvagens ; also known as the Salvage Islands) are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Madeira, and north of the Canary Islands.

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 of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly ...

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 The Madeira Natural Park ( pt, Parque Natural da Madeira) is a large biological reserve in Madeira with a unique endemic flora and fauna. It was created in 1982 to safeguard the natural heritage of the archipelago, and contains a number of endan ...

in 1986. Zino also visited the

Desertas Islands The Desertas Islands ( pt, Ilhas Desertas, , "Deserted Islands") are a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the larger Portuguese Madeira Archipelago. The archipelago is located off the coast of Morocco. Deserta Grande Island is loc ...

, studying the

Fea's petrel The Fea's petrel (''Pterodroma feae'') is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, '' Pterodroma''. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel (''P. mollis''), but they are actually not closely related at al ...

(''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