In the in style result of the print magazine , I have a story about the kakapo , a cartoonishly cute specie of parrot that looks like a parakeet crossed with an owl crossed with a Muppet . ( you’re able to read ithere . ) Kakapos are squat , chubby and flightless , and build their nest on the ground and in the open . They ’re also nocturnal , and feel their way through the dark forests with fleck of sensory hair - like feather on their faces . The whole while , they give off a potent , musty scent that ’s out of the question to cut . All of this made them easy pickings for human hunters , plus the dogs , quat , rats , and other predators that man introduced the to the parrot ’s home in New Zealand . In just a few centuries , one of the area ’s most usual birds soon disappeared from the main islands , and today there are only 126 kakapo left in carefully monitored , predator - spare biotic community on the smaller islands .
A handful of the raspberry were change to an island that is also , handily , one of the last remaining resort of the Hades flower , an endangered plant that scientists only late realized had strong ecological ties to the dame . I could n’t get into too much detail about the transfer functioning itself because of space constraints , so here ’s the story of how a flightless boo lastly deal to the sky .
In the early good morning 60 minutes one April day last yr , parrot wranglers from the New Zealand Department of Conservation ’s Kakapo Recovery Team ( KRT ) capture seven of the birds on Codfish and Anchor Islands by deal ( all 126 stay kakapo wear radio transmitters , so they ’re easy to find ) and placed them into individual pet carriers . Their destination : Hauturu , the “ rest place of lingering breezes . ”
Called Little Barrier Island in English , Hauturu had been home to a group of kakapo ( Strigops habroptilus ) in the early 1980s , but the birds had to be removed after the breakthrough of circumstantially - introducedkiore , or Polynesian rats . With the island ’s rats root out , the KRT hoped that Hauturu would now be secure for kakapo eggs and wench , and a desirable place for a large , unmanaged kakapo universe . On paper , it ’s one of the last New Zealand islands where the Bronx cheer could live without constant human babysitting . It ’s handsome enough for the birds to inhabit and breed there , and outside of the swimming range of stinker , stoats , and other predators living on the other islands .
After the kakapo were snatched up , they were taken by helicopter to the with child South Island . There , they were lade on an plane and get hold of to North Island . At the Auckland airdrome , they were put on another chopper and taken to Hauturu , where they were release from their aircraft carrier .
That might sound stressful , but kakapo did n’t seem to mind .
“ Kakapo appear to be hardy traveller and the master peril is heat stress , ” Kakapo Recovery Program Manager Deidre Vercoe Scott say . The birds just require to be kept coolheaded and comfortable with some damp towel in their crates and some apples and carrot to snack on .
“ This was one of the most complex transfers we have done simply because of the length the birds had to journey , ” Vercoe Scott say . “ But with deliberate planning we were able to achieve it within a daytime , mean the shuttle were not vex during their normal participating period during the night . ”
A few months after they make it , the birds were captured again so KRT penis could see how they were adjusting to their young jibe . On the whole , Vercoe Scott said , they had subside in well and were in full wellness . A few of the hoot had been part of the island ’s previous kakapo universe and seemed to have no problem coming back home again . One bird , after a 14 year absence , was able to find her onetime nesting sites and habitation range within a hebdomad of returning .
vocalise like a happy conclusion , but this is just the start of the kakapo ’s adventures on Hauturu . The birds did n’t cover last twelvemonth , and the KRT was n’t expecting them to , so soon after transfer . This year might be unlike , and December through February , their human guardians will keep a close eye on them to “ see whether or not they are keen , ” read Vercoe Scott . These chick are n’t expected to instal a population on the island just yet , though , so there ’s no pressure for romance . Rather , they ’re pioneers and Republic of Guinea pig testing the suitableness of Hauturu as a farsighted - term , unmanaged home . Their service to their mintage could last as long as 10 years , open conservationists enough data on breed success to make the call on whether the birds will return to where they came from or be get together by waves of new settlers , and give up to live alone and in heartsease on the little island where lingering breezes rest .
