Return of takahē – large, flightless bird – to alpine slopes of the South Island marks a conservation victory in New Zealand

In New Zealand, the return of wild takahē populations marks a cautiously celebrated conservation victory, and the return of one of the world’s rarest creatures. The birds had been formally declared extinct in 1898, their already-reduced population devastated by the arrival of European settlers’ animal companions: stoats, cats, ferrets and rats. After their rediscovery in 1948, their numbers are now at about 500, growing at about 8% a year.

  • anon6789@beehaw.orgOP
    6·
    10 months ago

    That’s horrible! What a shame. At least they owned up to doing it, but that had to be devastating to anyone in the recovery effort.