During the late 1800s, New Zealand's unique prehistoric flightless bird, the Takahe, was presumed to be extinct. Then about 50 years later, in 1948, they were famously rediscovered in a remote area of the Murchison Mountains on the South Island of New Zealand.
Since then, the country has seen one of its longest-running conservation efforts to restore the population of their iconic native bird.
The birds, which look like large, iridescent chickens, only breed once a year, raising one to two chicks (making conservation efforts slow.) They can live up to 22 years in sanctuaries, but in the wild face predators like stoats, feral cats, and rats.
Last week, 18 takahes were released on the South Island with the hope of reestablishing a wild population.
Two more, Waitaa and Bendigo, were released into the wilds of North Island's Zealandia sanctuary. As you can see in this video, they were clearly excited to be free.
Deidre Vercoe from the New Zealand's Department of Conservation said of last week's release,
After decades of hard work to increase the takahe population, it's rewarding to now be focusing on establishing more wild populations, but it comes with challenges.
Establishing new wild native species populations can take time and success is not guaranteed. If we want takahe to thrive, we need to explore new sites and learn as much as we can to protect the birds now and into the future.
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