Romantic island get-away hopes for rare kiwi
02 Jul 2010
Conservationists are hoping that a romantic island get-away and a bit on the side could spark a new lease of life for the world’s most endangered kiwi species.
Three breeding pairs of rowi kiwi have been whisked away from their mainland forest home to a remote New Zealand island in the hope that a change of environment will boost fertility - possibly even encouraging some extra-marital activity for the normally faithful kiwi couples.
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) is behind the carefully managed transfer to Blumine Island - an island haven in the warm coastal Marlborough Sounds region, of the South Island. The rowi kiwi’s native home is much further south in coastal forest on the South Island’s West Coast.
Kiwi fertility
Rowi team leader Duncan Kay said that the future of the rowi kiwi could rest on the fertility of the three couples, and conservationists hoped that the change of environment would stimulate breeding.
"We estimate approximately a third of the rowi population is currently unproductive. Although rowi often mate for life, as with us humans, there is also the possibility of affairs and divorces!"
Kay said that the hoped for infidelities could result in new pairings, that would enable the birds to produce fertile eggs for the first time. Any offspring from the pairs would be returned to Okarito Forest.
Island haven
The transfer marked the first time rowi kiwi had been taken out of their natural home in the Okarito forest, Kay said.
Blumine Island is a predator-free haven in Queen Charlotte Sound, at the tip of the South Island, which offers plenty of food and shelter for the shy kiwi.
"We’re hoping that the warmer climate and food-rich soil of Blumine Island will contribute to breeding success for these birds," Kay said.
"Unlike their home on the mainland, Blumine is predator-free. Birds will not only be safe from the jaws of stoats, cats and dogs but will also benefit from not having to compete with pest species - such as rats, possums and hedgehogs - for food."
Operation Nest Egg
The rowi transfer effort was carried out in collaboration with ‘BNZ Operation Nest Egg’, a trust that collects, incubates, hatches and rears kiwi eggs in captivity for release into the wild.
Chicks are sent to a safe ‘creche’ - either a predator-free island or mainland sanctuary, where they remain until they reach at least 1kg in weight. They are then returned to their wild home.
Operation Nest Egg has so far increased the chances of a kiwi making it to adulthood by seven times.
The transfer of rowi kiwi to Blumine Island is also part of the National Kiwi Recovery Plan, which aims to increase the current population of the rowi to 600 by 2018.
Rowi kiwi
Only one population of rowi kiwi remains in the world, and all within the 11,000-hectare Okarito forest.
The rowi kiwi was identified as a totally new species of kiwi in 1994, and is one of only five species of kiwi in New Zealand.
The birds were once abundant and widespread over much of the South Island’s West Coast region and along the south-east coast of the North Island.
Rowi chicks are particularly vulnerable to introduced predators such as stoats - this predation is the main reason for the low survival of the chicks. The rowi kiwi is also known as the Okarito kiwi or Okarito brown kiwi.
The current population stands at about 300 birds, many of which have not produced fertile eggs.
Rowi kiwi can live for a long time - up to 100 years in some cases. The female lays a large egg that can be equal to up to 20% of body weight.
The conservation status of the rowi kiwi remains as ‘nationally critical’, although strong conservation efforts throughout New Zealand have partially succeeded in restoring rowi population.
More information
Native New Zealand birds get cracking
Bird conservation in New Zealand
New Zealand bird sanctuaries
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