In New Zealand, wild takahe birds, which were considered extinct, were returned to nature
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Takahe birds, which cannot fly and were considered extinct for decades, have been returned to New Zealand. 18 birds were released last week into the valley of Lake Wakatipu-Waimaori, an alpine area of New Zealand’s South Island, on slopes where they had not been seen for about 100 years, reports The Guardian. These lands belong to the Ngai Tahu tribe, which has long been doomed to return to this territory. For representatives of the tribe, the return to the wild of the birds with which their ancestors lived is very important. Takahe birds do not fly, have a height of about 50 cm and live in the mountains. Photo: Wikipedia “From the front, their bodies can look almost perfectly spherical – together with their blue-green plumage, they resemble a model of the planet Earth sitting on two long, bright red legs,” says O’Regan, a Ngai Tahu elder. In New Zealand, the return of wild takahe populations marks a victory for conservation. The birds were officially declared extinct in 1898, and their already reduced population was decimated by the arrival of European settlers’ companion animals: ermines, cats, ferrets, and rats. The number of birds is now around 500 and is growing by about 8% every year. Initially, conservationists collected and artificially incubated the eggs to prevent them from being eaten by predators. When the chicks hatched, they were fed and raised by workers using sock puppets with the birds’ distinctive red beaks. After switching to captive breeding, the Department of Conservation (DOC) gradually introduced them to several island reserves and national parks, investing heavily in trapping and pest control to try to protect the birds. If the newly released pairs adapt to their new environment, there are plans to release 7 more birds in October 2023 and 10 at the beginning of next year. The attempt to establish a wild takahe population in the country is the result of a collaboration between the government and the indigenous tribe. These birds were valued by the ancestors of Ngai Tahu – their feathers were collected and woven into cloaks. The decline in wild takahe coincided with the confiscation, sale, or theft of much of the tribe’s land. Read also: Wild cats bred in captivity were released into the wild for the first time in Great Britain
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