The Great Hihi Sperm Race (seriously)

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Peter Frost
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The Great Hihi Sperm Race (seriously)

Postby Peter Frost » Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:07 pm

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Here is one for those of you who like a flutter (an appropriate term for birders).

Helen Taylor at the University of Otago has been studying hihi sperm to determine if there are any issues with infertility in male hihi as a result of the species’ overall small population size (~3500 individuals) and potential inbreeding among birds at the few sites sites where the species has been re-established. Two of the potential indicators are a higher-than-normal incidence of deformed sperm and slow-swimming sperm.

Over the 2017/18 breeding season, Helen collected sperm from 128 male hihi across four sites (Hauturu/Little Barrier Island, the original source population; Tiritiri Matangi, the first of the re-established populations and the source of birds for most subsequent translocations; Zealandia; and Bushy Park). Among other things, she measured the swimming speed of each male’s sperm. During this process, she and her colleagues came up with the idea of betting on which individual has the fastest sperm. They decided to set up a website where people can bet on the answer as a way of raising funds for hihi conservation. (All provisions for this initiative have been cleared with the relevant regulatory authorities.)

The mechanism is simple: go to http://www.hihispermrace.nz and pay $10 to bet on whichever bird you think will have the fastest sperm. You can bet on as many birds as you like, as often as you like. All the money goes to hihi conservation (see http://www.hihiconservation.com/, the website of the Hihi Recovery Group). Whoever selects the bird that Helen’s analyses show has the fastest sperm will win one of a number of donated prizes:
    • Family passes on 360 Discovery Ferries to Tiritiri Matangi Island, Auckland
    • Family passes to ZEALANDIA ecosanctuary, Wellington
    • Family tour packages for Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, Pukeatua
    • Cases of Hihi Wines
    • Hihi t-shirts from Tumbleweed Tees
    • Honey from Rotokare Scenic Reserve's own hives
    • Sets of native bird art cards from Bushy Park Sanctuary, Whanganui
Betting closes at midnight on Sunday 22nd April NZ time.

Hihi are extremely reliant on conservation actions: supplementary feeding, nest boxes and other forms of intensive management at most sites, as well as regular monitoring. This makes them an expensive species to conserve. The Hihi Recovery Group would like to involve as many people as possible---placing bets and spreading the word---so any publicity that you can give to this initiative would be greatly appreciated, including on Facebook and other social media. Many thanks and good luck.

Peter Frost

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