Whats happening
Jade finally meets her precious kakapo Pounamu
2 February 2010
A visit to Auckland Zoo today to meet the kakapo she named Pounamu nearly five years ago in a Forest & Bird naming competition was a dream fulfilled for North Shore teenager Jade Cassidy.
Four-year-old female Pounamu, one of only 124 kakapo in the
world, was flown up to Auckland from Codfish Island on Christmas
Eve to receive treatment from Auckland Zoo's vet team for a
parasite infection and resulting wound.
Now back to full health, the feisty young bird is due to leave the
zoo's New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM) tomorrow
morning, but not before 13-year-old Jade and her mother Megan Lee
pay a special VIP visit.
As part of her prize for successfully naming Pounamu - a bird she says is definitely "a precious jewel", the then eight-year-old and her mother were flown to Codfish Island in winter 2005 to meet her namesake, but it was not to be. Pounamu had been attacked and injured by an older kakapo and had to be flown up to Massey University for treatment.
"I really liked trekking through the forest on Codfish to try and find one of the other kakapo and help feed it, and it was amazing to know that not a lot of other people had seen a kakapo before. I love their nature, and how they move, and their colour. It's very cool that I'm now getting to meet Pounamu," says Jade.
Auckland Zoo vet Dr John Potter says Pounamu is the noisiest
kakapo he has ever treated.
"She's a real character and will start screeching as soon as we
enter her enclosure, though she has settled a lot since she first
arrived, and we'll sometimes find her on top of the foliage instead
of hiding within it," says Dr Potter.
Pounamu's infection and wound was discovered just before Christmas by Department of Conservation (DOC) kakapo recovery team members when catching her up to relocate her to Anchor Island in Dusky Sound, south-west Fiordland.
"We're establishing a second breeding population on Anchor Island now as Codfish Island is full. Pounamu will be joining 22 other females, who will hopefully become the first kakapo to breed in Fiordland in well over 50 years," says kakapo recovery team leader Deidre Vercoe.
Pounamu will take the number of kakapo on Anchor Island to 49. Ms Vercoe says Anchor Island has rimu - the masting tree species that kakapo are triggered to breed by on Codfish.
"The island also has beech, yellow silver pine, and pink pine. We don't know how these other tree species will influence kakapo breeding patterns on Anchor, but we're hopeful that breeding will be more frequent there," she says.
KAKAPO FAST FACTS
- The kakapo is the rarest, heaviest and only nocturnal parrot in the world, and is endemic to New Zealand. It was once one of our most common birds - found throughout our three main islands. Today it is confined to Codfish Island (Whenua Hou) Island and Anchor Island.
- Kakapo is Maori for 'parrot of the night'.
- Hunting, habitat destruction, and introduced predators brought the species to the edge of extinction.
- In 1995, kakapo numbers declined to just 50 birds. With 33 healthy chicks born in the 2009 breeding season, the kakapo population has increased to 124 birds.
- The kakapo is the only parrot in the world to have a 'lek' mating system - which involves the male attracting females by his booming call. Males create elaborate track and bowl systems in the scrub, and call from the 'bowls' to help transmit the sound of the low 'boom' they make.
- A male kakapo's booming call can be heard up to 5km away. One was recorded making 17,000 booms in one night!
- Kakapo only breed every three to four years, and breeding is dependent on the masting (fruiting) of the rimu tree. The rimu tree's berries are the chosen food parents feed their chicks
- Kakapo are herbivores and eat a variety of roots, leaves and fruit.
Click here to view footage of Jade meeting Pounamu on 3News.