How they’re saving the kakapo

People Fixing the World

It’s a flightless bird on the edge of extinction, but a team in New Zealand is trying to stop it from going the way of the dodo.

The kakapo is a large parrot that was once common in New Zealand. But its inability to fly, strong smell and habit of freezing when attacked made it easy to hunt for both human settlers and the animals they introduced. By the mid-1990s there were only 51 left.

The remaining birds were moved to an island and a recovery operation began – looking at every aspect of the animals’ lives to try to boost the population. Twenty-five years on and the kakapo are at the centre of an elaborate breeding programme. There are monitors that measure the jiggle of mating birds, “smart eggs” to replace the ones removed for rearing and even a sperm-carrying drone.

People Fixing the World looks at what it takes to bring a bird back from the brink.

Presenter: Tom Colls Reporter: Alison Balance

(Photo caption: A kakapo / Photo credit: Jake Osborne, New Zealand Department of Conservation)