The tale of the takahe

November 20th, 1948, picture four silhouettes walking across the snow-grass covered valley, driven by the ambition of finding a bird that many had lost all hope of ever seeing again: the takahe. Leading the group was Geoffrey Orbell, a doctor and keen hiker. With him were three friends, Neil Mcrostie and Rex Watson along with Watson’s girlfriend. They had been trekking for five hours when Orbell suddenly dropped flat on the ground, indicating that the others should do the same. What they saw was none other than the very creature they were looking for, a strange looking blue bird, strutting on a small patch of swampy grassland…

This is the story of how the takahe was rediscovered in 1948, having been presumed extinct for half a century. This blog post tells a different story however; the story of their recovery from the brink of extinction…

Takahe once thrived in New Zealand’s swamps and grasslands, and although they were already hunted extensively by Maori and European settlers in the early 19th century,  research shows that their first big decline might have occurred shortly after the last ice age. Indeed, takahe have both behavioural (e.g. carefully selecting the most nutritious parts of plants) and morphological (e.g a powerful bill) features that indicate their suitability to a much colder climate. 

Nonetheless, the decline which (almost) brought about the bird’s extinction in the late 19th century is not unprecedented. Take moa birds, for example. The major reasons they were driven to extinction were habitat reduction due to land clearance and hunting by the Polynesian settlers around 700 years ago. Although the takahe almost went extinct for much the same reasons, hunting and competition from ground mammals also played a major part in their declining numbers. In fact, in 1982, takahe numbers went right down to 118 individuals because of this. The way we managed to suddenly change the course of their future through modern conservation is nothing short of remarkable. 

The New Zealand Department of Conservation’s vital work includes an intensively managed breeding programme, genetic management, wild releases and of course, predator control. The rigour with which these points have been managed is astounding. The Predator Free 2050 project, a project which aims to eradicate New Zealand’s most damaging non native predators, is testament to their persistent effort. Takahe are doing well now, their numbers approaching 500 individuals as of 2023, and a new wild population has even been released in Greenstone Valley this August. This amazing conservation tale is far from being concluded however as New Zealand is determined to never be so close to losing this endemic bird again…