In 2000, an expedition to the Mexican island of Guadalupe launched a fight to save its ecosystem from being eaten by goats.

Russian whalers had introduced the goats to the island in the 19th Century and the population exploded as they ate their way through Guadalupe’s plants, shrubs and trees.

Several species of birds were already extinct when a group of scientists, from the San Diego Natural History Museum, visited to inspect the damage.

Their expedition would begin the campaign to save the island’s wildlife from extinction, as Professor Exequiel Ezcurra tells Jane Wilkinson.

(Photo: Goats on Guadalupe Island. Credit: Northern Light Productions)