Prehistσric Bird thσught tσ be Extinct Returns tσ New Zeɑlɑnd Wild

However they were rediscovered after the Second World War and ever since conservationists have been taking a proactive approach to ensuring their survival. Eggs located in the wild are taken into care centers to protect them from thieves like stoats, ferrets, and rats.

Conservationists raised chicks in breeding centers by using sock puppets shaped like adult takahē heads, an invaluable technique that eventually gave way to breeding in specially controlled environments.

Trapping the invasive predators has also been an incredibly important contribution to the animal’s steady growth in population of around 8% per annum.

“They’re almost prehistoric looking,” says Tūmai Cassidy, of the Ngāi Tahu indigenous group who steward the land around Lake Wakatipu. “Very broad and bold.”

He says that from the front they appear perfectly spherical, like a miniature Earth mounted on a pair of orange legs.

For the Māori, the reintroduction is incredibly special. In the past Māori people gathered the feathers of the bird into cloaks, and the calls of these animals radiating up the slopes from the valley bottom was a cherished memory that may now be able to be relived.