New arrivals boost kakapo species survival
27 Feb 2009
It’s not yet a population explosion, but two newly hatched kakapo chicks on a remote New Zealand island are another small step in the recovery programme for one of the world’s most endangered birds.
The new additions - the first of the current breeding season on Whenua Hou / Codfish Island - have taken the world kakapo population to 93, and with more expected in the coming weeks numbers could rise to triple figures.
As well as the 25 confirmed fertile eggs yet to hatch, there are another eight to be checked and seven more females are ready to nest on the pest-free island sanctuary off New Zealand’s southern coast.
Monitoring progress
Volunteers and Kakapo Recovery staff, from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, are keeping a close eye on the two chicks and monitoring their progress.
From the same nest, it’s hoped that these chicks could be the descendants of Richard Henry, the only surviving kakapo from the Fiordland region. His genes are valuable to providing genetic diversity to the kakapo population.
Out of the 38 breeding aged female kakapo, 27 have mated and expectations are that this season will end with 80 percent having mated.
A huge step
"It is such an exciting time for Kakapo Recovery with so many breeding aged females having mated and with more matings happening, things are going to get even busier on the island," Kakapo Recovery team leader Deidre Vercoe said.
"It will be awesome to bring the kakapo population to more than 100 and all signs are indicating that could very well happen. If this breeding season produces 30 to 40 chicks it will be a huge step in the recovery of this species," she said.
Kakapo breeding season
Ms Vercoe said it was a breeding season like this which the Kakapo Recovery programme had been building up to.
The flightless kakapo - the world’s rarest parrot - only breed every few years when fruit from the rimu tree is right, so this breeding season is even more incredible given that only six chicks were produced in 2008.
"The rimu fruit is the unknown for us," Ms Vercoe said. "If it doesn’t ripen there won’t be enough fruit for the mothers to feed their young and we will have to look at bringing the chicks to the mainland and hand-rearing."
Ms Vercoe said at this stage it could go either way. "Ideally we would like the chicks to remain on the island."
More information:
Endangered NZ stars for BBC wildlife series
Native NZ parrot emerges from 21 years in hiding
Bird conservation in NZ
These topics may also be of interest to you
|
