AFP

New Zealand's Kakapo Brought Back from the Brink

Flightless and slow-moving, New Zealand's kakapo parrot is on the verge of extinction. But a mammoth conservation effort stretching back decades is offering hope for one of the world's rarest birds, lifting its numbers from about 50 in 1990 to 126 this year.

Published: 11 months ago
Categories: Science, Wildlife
Topics: Animals & Pets, Environment
Places: New Zealand, Auckland
Tags: parrot
Transcript: SCRIPT: [Kakapo growling] Doc isn't all that pleased with the health check he's being subjected to, but it's essential for rangers to determine whether this nocturnal parrot, the endangered flightless kakapo, is fit to travel. Rangers tramped through the bush on two remote islands off the southern tip of New Zealand to collect four males and four females for the journey to their new home more than 1000 kilometers away. These parrots are being taken to Little Barrier Island, one of the few places in New Zealand where introduced predators such as rats and feral cats have been eradicated, giving the flightless birds a safe place to nest. There are only 126 Kakapo left in the world, all of which have been tagged and named by conservationists. They can live as long as 90 years and are the largest species of parrot in the world. SOUNDBITE 1: Sarah Kivi (woman) kakapo recovery ranger (English 8 secs): "They're just very dignified. They can be quite grumpy. They display so much personality, which I guess you don't get from a lot of birds... They'll sit there and look at you and you wonder what they are thinking." Scientists are also wondering what triggers the birds' unusual three-yearly mating cycle, a key to ensuring their survival. So Kakapo have been fitted with motion-sensing devices that can report when the birds are mating. SOUNDBITE 2: Deidre Vercoe-Scott, (woman) manager, Kakapo Recovery Programme (English, 19 secs): "There's quite rigorous action with the transmitter, as you can imagine, and that can carry on for quite some time. And so the transmitter may be able to detect that there is a female's transmitter nearby. It also checks the activity status of her transmitter, puts the story together and emits a code that tells us whether or not that bird has mated, and who with." One month after the released on Little Barrier Island, Vercoe-Scott was part of team that returned to check on them. Some birds who were native to the island had returned to their old haunts, almost 13 years after they were first relocated. All are settling in well, though the kakapo recovery effort is far from out of the woods. SOUNDBITE 3: Ron Moorhouse (man) scientist, Kakapo Recovery Programme (English 14 sec): "With 126 birds, you have to manage the genetics very carefully, and that's what we're doing. We're trying very hard to do that so that we retain as much genetic variation in the population as we can." The population has more than doubled from a low of just 51 birds in the 1990s, so New Zealanders have reason to be hopeful that one of their iconic birds may in fact be here to stay. --------------- SHOTLIST: ANCHOR ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. APRIL 14, 2012 (SOURCE: NEW ZEALAND'S DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL USE) -Doc the Kakapo getting a check-up on Anchor Island -Rangers Sarah Kivi and Tim Raemaekers tramping on Anchor Island in search of two kakapo. -Tim Raemaekers using a locator device -Sarah Kivi climbing a tree -Tim Raemaekers carrying bird -Sara Kivi and Andrea Carson, community officer for Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter, putting a kakapo in a box -Helicopter departing Anchor Island -Helicopter transporting kakapo -View from helicopter -SOUNDBITE 1: Sarah Kivi (woman) kakapo recovery ranger (English 8 secs): "They're just very dignified. They can be quite grumpy. They display so much personality, which I guess you don't get from a lot of birds... They'll sit there and look at you and you wonder what they are thinking." -Random bird on Anchor Island -Wide shot of helicopter and ranger hut on Anchor Island -Monitoring device on kakapo AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND. JUNE 8, 2012 (SOURCE: AFPTV - Erica Berenstein - ACCESS ALL) -SOUNDBITE 2: Deidre Vercoe-Scott, (woman) manager, Kakapo Recovery Programme (English, 19 secs): "There's quite rigorous action with the transmitter, as you can imagine, and that can carry on for quite some time. And so the transmitter may be able to detect that there is a female's transmitter nearby. It also checks the activity status of her transmitter, puts the story together and emits a code that tells us whether or not that bird has mated, and who with." ANCHOR ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. APRIL 14, 2012 (SOURCE: NEW ZEALAND'S DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL USE) -Kakapo being released on Little Barrier Island AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND. JUNE 8, 2012 (SOURCE: AFPTV - ACCESS ALL) -SOUNDBITE 3: Ron Moorhouse (man) scientist, Kakapo Recovery Programme (English 14 sec): "With 126 birds, you have to manage the genetics very carefully, and that's what we're doing. We're trying very hard to do that so that we retain as much genetic variation in the population as we can." ANCHOR ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. APRIL 14, 2012 (SOURCE: NEW ZEALAND'S DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL USE) -Kakapo box being taped up -View of Anchor Island from helicopter -Kakapo getting ready to be loaded onto helicopter on Anchor Island /// ------------------------------------------------------ AFP TEXT STORY: NZealand-wildlife-conservation-kakapo New Zealand's 'night parrot' brought back from the brink by Neil Sands =(GRAPHIC+PICTURE+VIDEO)= AUCKLAND, June 21, 2012 (AFP) - Flightless, slow-moving and at times more sexually attracted to humans than their own species, it's small wonder New Zealand's kakapo parrot is on the verge of extinction. But a mammoth conservation effort stretching back decades is offering hope for one of the world's rarest birds, lifting its numbers from about 50 in 1990 to 126 this year. The plump, green kakapo -- the name means "night parrot" in Maori -- was once one of the most common birds in New Zealand, which had few land predators before European settlement in the early Nineteenth Century. "There was a report from an early explorer, Charles Douglas, who said they were so populous you could shake them out of trees like apples," said Deirdre Vercoe Scott, head of the Department of Conservation's kakapo recovery programme. "He said he'd once seen six kakapo shaken from a single tutu bush." Vercoe Scott said habitat destruction by humans and the introduction of pests such as stoats and predatory cats and dogs, sowed the seeds of the kakapos' decline. The flightless nocturnal birds, while essentially ground dwelling, are strong climbers but freeze when confronted by a threat, making them easy pickings for predators. The males also attract mates by emitting a deep booming sound from thoracic air sacs, turning them into conspicuous targets for hunters in the night forest. With an ageing population and bird numbers declining, kakapo recovery programme chief scientist Ron Moorehouse said the species' future appeared "dire" in the 1990s. The situation sparked an intense conservation initiative, which has cost tens of millions of dollars, to save a bird that those who have encountered it describe as endearing and full of personality. "They can be quite grumpy," ranger Sarah Kivi said. "They display so much personality, which I guess you don't get from a lot of birds. They'll sit there and look at you and you wonder 'what are they thinking?'". Exacerbating the problem was the fact that kakapo, which can live up to 90 years, are notoriously slow breeders, only reproducing in seasons when abundant fruit is available from native tree species. The breeding programme faced another hurdle when male kakapo became "imprinted" on their human handlers, meaning they saw them as more likely potential mates than female kakapo. In the early days of the conservation effort, rangers even wore an outlandish rubber helmet dotted with dimples in an unsuccessful attempt to collect kakapo sperm when males tried to mate with their heads. British actor Stephen Fry witnessed the kakapo's amorous antics first hand while filming his programme "Last Chance to See" in 2009, when a kakapo named Sirocco took a shine to zoologist Mark Carwardine and began vigorously coupling with his scalp. The resulting footage, which Fry described as "one of the funniest things I've ever seen", attracted almost four million hits on video-sharing website Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY. Vercoe Scott said the birds' fortunes began to improve when they were moved to two remote islands where existing pests had been eliminated and which predators from the mainland could not reach by swimming. "The biggest breakthrough was putting all the birds together on predator-free islands and understanding how they breed while getting over (our) fear of intervening," she said. "If we'd taken a hands-off policy we would have lost the kakapo, so we really had to get in there and be quite intense with our management, particularly during the nesting period." She added that her team set up cameras, weighed the chicks nightly and as a result hand reared many of the birds. Vercoe Scott said it was highly unlikely any kakapo now survived in the wild, meaning only the conservation programme could save the species. Such has been its success that rangers this year re-introduced eight kakapo to a third sanctuary, Little Barrier Island off the Auckland coast, after eliminating a rat infestation which forced their removal in 1999. Moorehouse said some of the eight birds originally came from the island and immediately returned to their old nesting spots, raising hopes they will quickly settle in and breed in the new environment. While the kakapo is still listed as critically endangered, Moorehouse said the situation no longer looked bleak. "The trend is up, so we're encouraged by that," he said. "We're certainly more comfortable, but with 126 birds you have to manage the genetics very carefully and that's what we're trying to do, so we retain as much genetic variation in the population as we can. "So we're not out of the woods by any means but we're going in the right direction." ns/dwa END

New Zealand's Kakapo Brought Back from the Brink | NewsLook

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New Zealand's Kakapo Brought Back from the Brink

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