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Back from the brink
"For more than 100 years, New Zealanders have freely exploited the kiwi's name and curious shape without much regard for its welfare in the wild. Now, it's payback time."
New Zealand Herald
23 December 2006
Kiwi population shrinking
"Fewer than 15 North Island brown kiwi are thought to be surviving in western Bay
of Plenty, sparking fresh fears for the survival ... will be extinct there within four
years unless action is taken"
New Zealand Herald
20 December 2004
DoC losing battle to save rarest species
"The Department of Conservation is failing to stop the slide to extinction of more than half of New Zealand's rare plants and wildlife."
New Zealand Herald
25 October 2004
New Zealand's flight path to disaster
"Few people are aware that, as the authors claim, New Zealand has a better
record of the birds that lived over the past 100,000 years than any other area
of the world. Our avifauna is diverse, unique, special, intriguing - and, to a
large extent, extinct"
New Zealand Herald
14 January 2003
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Home >
New Zealand ecology > Flightless birds |
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The flightless birds of New Zealand are a principal feature of the 'edge ecology' of the country. In an island environment isolated from the rest of the world for more than 80 million years, and free of mammal predators, a number of birds developed flightlessness and eccentric habits. Each of them filled different ecological functions; moa and kakapo as forest browsers, takahe as grass eaters, and kiwi and wrens as ground insect eaters - roles taken by mammals in other ecosystems. Many of the birds are unafraid of humans, a common characteristic resulting from the absence
of predators, which became deadly when human hunters arrived. |
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The takahe is the largest living member of the rail family which is
found throughout the Southern Oceanic islands. Takahe were hunted
until they were rarely found in the 19th century. None were seen after
1900 and it was declared extinct, but amazingly, 200 pairs were found
in a remote region of Fiordland in 1948. The North Island takahe is
extinct, but about 220 of the South Island species continue their dramatic
brink of extinction existence.
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Hear the call of takahe
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Five species and four variations of one species of kiwi are some of the world's rarest
and oddest birds. They have many characteristics that are more typical of a mammal than a bird. It is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its bill. Kiwi have been in rapid decline since human introduction of mammals, and may only exist in pest-controlled sanctuaries in 75 years.
See more
Hear the
call of North Is brown kiwi |
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The kakapo is one of the world's most critically endangered birds, living dangerously
close to extinction for more than half a century. It is the world's heaviest parrot,
and the only flightless and nocturnal parrot. After years of holding on with just
a few females in New Zealand's most extensive breeding management program, the future
looks a little better for kakapo since 22 chicks hatched in 2002, bringing the total
number up to 84 birds.
See more
Hear the booming call of male kakapo |
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There are even flightless ducks in New Zealand. The Auckland Island teal (right) and
Campbell Island teal which is critically endangered and the world's rarest duck, are both
flightless and found only on their respective subantarctic islands. When declared extinct,
20 Campbell Island teal were found on Dent Island in 1975, but captive bred birds are now
being sent back to occupy their former range.
See more on Campbell Island teal |
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Six of the 17 penguin species of the world breed in New Zealand, the most diverse population. Four species are endemic. A group of yellow-eyed penguin, the world's rarest, coming ashore on a surf beach, and walking through forested trails is indeed an unexpected sight. Penguin once inhabited much of the New Zealand mainland coast, but only three species remain in a few isolated locations, since the loss of shaded forest nesting habitat. Four species are on five subantarctic islands.
See more
Hear the call of little blue penguin |
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The tiny Stephens Island wren was the only flightless and the smallest songbird
in the world. In 1894 it became the third extinct New Zealand wren after only a few birds
were found on a small island by the lighthouse keeper's cat. The ground dwelling
bush wren, and Stead's bush wren which were weak fliers have not been seen since the
1960-70s. Only the related rifleman and the South Island rock wren which do fly
remain.
See more |
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The weka is another endemic flightless rail that was abundant until the 1980s, but has since
been in rapid decline. Surveys in 1991 and 1995 of the main population in the Gisborne
region show only 1500 birds. It is New Zealand's odd bird out since it is a predator of the eggs
of other birds.
See more |
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Second only in weight to the extinct elephant bird of
Madagascar, the largest moa was the tallest bird on earth, with the top of its' back
6 feet above the ground. Moa were dominant herbivores in an environment
dominated by birds. Its only predator was the extinct Haast's eagle, the
largest eagle ever known with a wing span of ten feet. Eleven species of moa
were hunted to extinction over a period of 100 years during the 13th and 14th
centuries, immediately after the first human settlement of New Zealand. This
was the fastest known extermination in the world of a whole fauna of large animals.
Moa were in decline when human hunting started, with only 159,000 birds - a severe
reduction from 3 to 12 million thousands of years before the arrival of humans.
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Flightless bird's are a substantial portion of the 43 percent of New Zealand's
bird fauna that has become extinct since human settlement in the 13th century.
The survival of kakapo has been dependent on their seclusion on offshore islands
where they are safe from predation by stoats, rats and cats. Little brown kiwi
are also only found on two offshore islands where the population increases. |
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International Threatened and Endangered Listings
2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
North Island brown kiwi
Apteryx mantelli 'North Island'
Endangered
Rowi (Okarito brown kiwi)
Apteryx rowi
Endangered
Southern tokoeka kiwi
Apteryx australis
'Fiordland/Stewart Island'
Vulnerable
Southern tokoeka kiwi
(Haast tokoeka)
Apteryx australis 'Haast'
Vulnerable
Great spotted kiwi
Apteryx haastii
Vulnerable
Little spotted kiwi
Apteryx owenii
Vulnerable
Kakapo
Strigops habroptilus
Critically endangered
Weka
Gallirallus australis
Vulnerable
North Island takahe
Porphyrio hochstetteri
Extinct
Takahe
Porphyrio mantelli
Endangered
Stephen's Island wren
Traversia lyalli
Extinct
North Island bush wren
Xenicus longipes stokesi
Extinct
Stewart Island bush wren
Xenicus longipes variabilis
Extinct
New Zealand quail
Coturnix novaezelandiae
Extinct
Auckland Island teal
Anas aucklandica
Vulnerable
Campbell Island teal
Anas nesiotis
Critically endangered
Chatham rail
Cabalus modestus
Extinct
Dieffenbach's rail
Gallirallus dieffenbachii
Extinct
Auckland Island's rail
Lewinia muelleri
Vulnerable
New Zealand little bittern
Ixobrychus novaezelandiae
Extinct
Rockhopper penguin
Eudyptes chrysocome
Vulnerable
Fiordland crested penguin
Eudyptes pachyrhynchus
Vulnerable
Snares crested penguin
Eudyptes robustus
Vulnerable
Erect crested penguin
Eudyptes sclateri
Endangered
United States Threatened
and Endangered Species, Foreign Listed Species
Kakapo
Strigops habroptilus
Endangered
Campbell Island flightless teal
Anas aucklandica nesiotis
Endangered
Auckland Island rail
Rallus pectoralis muelleri
Endangered
New Zealand bush wren
Xenicus longipes
Endangered |
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Photo Credit
Left 4th from top: Kokako
Left 5th from top: Tusked weta
Left 6th from top: Archeys frog
Center top: Takahe
Center 3rd from top & right top: Kakapo
Center 4th from top: Auckland Island teal, Rod Morris, 1973
Crown Copyright © Department of Conservation
Illustration Credit
Left 2nd from top:
John Gerrard Keulemans 1842-1912, Huia (male and female)
Heteralocha acutirostris 1888
Center 2nd from top: John Gerrard Keulemans 1842-1912, Little spotted
kiwi, Apteryx owenii, 1888
Center bottom:
Frederick William Frohawk 1861-1942, Dinornis ingens 1906.
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand must be obtained
before any re-use of these images. |
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