South Island kokako declared extinct

The South Island kokako has been officially declared extinct. Although relatively common as little as 100 years ago, the last sighting on New Zealand’s South Island was way back in 1967. It is believed that it hung on Stewart Island well into the 1980s (a feather was found there in 1987) but, despite extensive searches, no trace has been found there or on the mainland for many years.

The only other surviving member of New Zealand’s Wattle bird family, the North Island kokako, a close relative, is now expanding its numbers after years of being threatened with extinction. The North Island kokako has been introduced to three off-shore islands to protect it from introduced pests (cats, rats and possums) and the remaining birds on the mainland are now heavily protected. There are also several captive breeding schemes to ensure the survival of this species.

NZ Conservation Minister Chris Carter recently announced the new threatened species list had updated the ‘threat classification’ status of 5819 of New Zealand's native plants and animals, and 44 had been given a change in status.

 

Almost half of those were listed in one of the seven threatened categories, and the rest required further research to determine if these were threatened or not.

‘A few have improved their status, such as the black petrel and crested grebe, others, such as the grey duck are more endangered,’ Mr Carter said. ‘It's a wake-up call for us, as a country’.

‘Human-induced threats and the introduction of predators and pests continue to plague our native species,’ he said.