Mainland Little Spotted Kiwi Discovery

[simon.fordham]

This may give hope for other 'extinct species.

https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-rele ... 4xUSs2ApSA

[Neil Fitzgerald]

You beat me by seconds. Fantastic news for the little spotted kiwi gene pool. New birds found on the West Coast

[sm1979]

Proves there is still a possibility of a rediscovery....
SI Kokako
Bush Wren

[fras444]

Has me always thinking...

As small as NZ appears.... on a map, it has such a diverse and impenetrable land and like 90% of it is locked away in private properties in the form of farms and defense land or untouched forests, mountains and the like.

It certainly makes you wonder, especially for me as someone passionate about new colonisors like horay headed grebes and also a sucker for romantic ideas of lost species once considered extinct...

Just what is out there in the very depths of our forests or tucked away in the most remotest corner of some of our largest private lands..

This really proves that as a whole.. predator control is so important for all places especially pockets of untouched forests in the most remotest corners of our land and that..
There certainly must be more out there.. be it a small population of Nankeen kestrels or a lost population of south island kokako...

Back to the topic as well...

What would the action plan be now..?

It must be a bit of a rock and a hard place situation..

The strong temptation of capturing an all important genetic pool for the greater good of the population vs potential importance in leaving it like what DoC decided with the haast/okarito kiwi populations and the potential for there to be more and doing more harm than good and intensively manage living hell out of that area asap... then to actually look at bosting that population with translocations from the kapiti population... which would be a massive change of action plan of only releasing little spotted kiwis in fenced predator free sanctuaries.

To have a pair effectively out in the open so to speak... for well over.. how many hundreds of years... something certainly is working there...?

[Jim_j]

Good news - but - the video of the female shows the bird is elderly and given this is likely to be a relic population the male is probably in a similar condition.
There is an interesting series of podcasts on DoCs website re the battle to save a brown kiwi population at Shy Lake in Fiordland - in all the years of monitoring not a single chick survived - virtually all taken by stoats.

I imagine the best bet is that if the pair are capable of producing an egg it is taken into the captive nest egg project for hatching.

Cheers
Jim

[Neil Fitzgerald]

A functionally extinct remnant is probably the most likely scenario. This is where “de-extinction” tech might actually be useful, to get genes from these birds into the rest of the population.

[Jim_j]

Yes true.
Is there any experience with artificial insemination with kiwi?
I know there has been some success with kakapo - it could be a good option if the male is viable?

Cheers
Jim

[sm1979]

Stoats are fatal to Little spotted kiwi, even when adults. Adults of the other kiwi species are big enough to fight off stoats.
The fact that these have survived on the mainland suggests that the stoat population in the area is low or nil. Would love to know what other rare species are hiding in the area??!!
Yet maybe these birds should be shifted to a safe area like the Brook Sanctuary to boost the genetics of the LS Kiwi population. New genetics are very much needed as the current 2000 birds all descended from approx 5 individuals.

[Jim_j]

I'd be surprised if DoC attempted to move the birds.
The relict population of LSK from D'urville Island were moved to a predator free island in the Sounds but no breeding occurred.

I can't see why there would be any less stoats in the area they were found than other similar areas - I suspect their survival is more due to them perhaps being more feisty than is normal and probably a lot of luck!

Cheers
Jim

[andrewcrossland]

I notice there's a story on yahoo about a Little Spotted Kiwi being found and photographed by a hunter on the West Coast and DoC went back to the area and caught a female and male. Great news!