Otago Peninsula's ``Royal webcam'' northern royal albatross/toroa chick died yesterday after it was attacked by its mother during what the Department of Conservation is calling a tough breeding season.
Footage from the webcam at the colony showed the female KGY attacking her chick causing injuries from which it could not recover.
The chick hatched less than a month ago.
Doc threatened species ambassador Nicola Toki said aggression by adults and juveniles towards chicks had been seen previously, but this was unusual behaviour and the department was uncertain why it occurred.
KGY had a good record of producing healthy chicks which made the behaviour more unexpected and upsetting.
Extreme heat has lead to a 42% drop in hatched chicks this year.
There are now only 14 chicks, compared with 26 and 23 at the corresponding time during the past two years. She said with the summer's low success rate, the death of any chicks was serious.
Other Otago wildlife, such as the yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho and New Zealand sea lions/rapoka, would also become more vulnerable as the effects of climate change became more severe, Ms Toki said.
``Living on the warmer fringes of their natural breeding ranges, we would expect these small populations to be most vulnerable to any temperature increases.''
Doc rangers would continue daily management of the remaining chicks to ensure they had the best possible chance of surviving to fledge.
Taiaroa Head operations manager Hoani Langsbury said staff at the albatross centre were devastated about the death of the chick, particularly following the difficult breeding season.
Even though similar activity was often seen among the headland's red-billed gull colony, the vast difference in size of the two colonies meant the chick's death hit slightly harder, Mr Langsbury said.
``There's only 20 or 30 albatross pairs so it just feels like it's unusual but it's also just a natural part of the wild animal activity that goes on.''
A Doc spokeswoman said it was likely the webcam would be shifted to another albatross nest but a decision on whether to do so had not yet been made.
