The population of New Zealand’s kakapo, an endangered flightless parrot, has increased 25 percent in the past year to 252 birds following a good breeding season and success with artificial insemination, the New Zealand Department of Conservation said yesterday.
The kakapo have been nearly wiped out by introduced predators such as stoats. The problem has been exacerbated by inbreeding, low fertility — only 50 percent of eggs are fertilized — and as they only breed every two or three years when native rimu trees fruit.
The population of the kakapo, which is the world’s heaviest parrot, is now at its highest number since the 1970s.
“There were just 86 kakapo when I first started working as a kakapo ranger in 2002. That number was scary. Having a breeding season with 55 chicks feels like a very positive step,” said Deidre Vercoe, operational manager for the kakapo recovery program.
The program was established in 1995. It is a collaboration between the department and Maori tribe Ngai Tahu and uses volunteers to help with activities such as monitoring the nests to keep them out of trouble. Some birds have had to be rescued after getting stuck in mud or after their legs were caught in trees.
Vercoe said in an e-mail that a lot of the success this season was due to the amount of fruit on rimu trees.
Success with artificial insemination this season was also key.
Eight surviving chicks were born from artificial insemination, compared with just five in the decade to 2019.
“Using artificial insemination has meant that some males, who had not yet naturally fathered chicks, are still represented in the future gene pool,” Vercoe said. “Artificial insemination can also help to increase fertility of the eggs laid.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS