13 Nov 2019

Saving Kākāpō with fertility boosting rimu fruit

From Nine To Noon, 11:28 am on 13 November 2019
When kākāpō chicks reach 150 days old they graduate to being juveniles. They won't be counted as adults until they are four and a half years old.

Photo: RNZ / Alison Ballance

When it comes to hopelessly flawed reproductive strategies, Kākāpō top the list. In addition to fertility problems they only breed every 2-5 years, coinciding with mass fruiting of rimu trees.

Scientists believe there might be hope for the critically-endangered native parrot by looking closer at this link.

Nine to Noon talks to Dr Janet Pitman and Dr Simon Hinkley from Victoria University of Wellington who have been awarded a Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden grant to investigate.

Dr Janet Pitman, and Dr Simon Hinkley

Dr Janet Pitman, and Dr Simon Hinkley Photo: Mr Colin McDiarmid (Photographer; VUW Image Services).