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I have just adopted

My adopted kakapo is Ralph and he is a bit of a dud. Despite being over 40 years old he hasn't successfully mated yet. He builds his bowl and he booms but the ladies just don't pick him.

28 hatchlings now and still 19 fertile eggs to go.
 
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well, with 2 males gone, his chances are improving. And maybe he gets picked by one of the young females that will nest for the first time this year.
 
Numbers are a little confusing so I am not 100% certain I have these right.

35 chicks have hatched and there are 10 fertile eggs left to hatch.

Out of those 35 chicks, 4 have died - one of natural causes and three who died when a flash flood destroyed 2 nests :(
 
Geez, these little guys can't catch a break. :(

Still, that's a big boost for the population. Things are looking better.
 
In the past the team has tried to put a nest minder on each next nest. However this time there were just too many nests for them all to have minders all the time.
 
Propably the Kakapos don't mind having no nest minders. I'm sure I'd find it pretty unnerving to always have strangers around while I'm propagating.
 
The last chick of the season has hatched. Total hatched - 47 of which 38 are still alive :). It has been a marvellous breeding season.
 
Fantastic. That's a huge percentage increase in their population. More than 25%. Fingers crossed that all the babies survive.
 
Before the breeding season started I said I would donate $NZ10 for each hatchling. I thought The total would be less than 20. I have so far paid for 12 so it looks like I will take about at least another 4 months to pay for all of them.
 
Be a while since I did an update.

Of the 46 chicks hatched, 37 are still alive.

There are 123 adult birds which means a total of 160 known kakapo in the world.

However chicks aren't added formally to the population until they are 6 months old.
 
a wise precaution. Congratulation to the proud parents and foster parents :)
Has it been published yet of which causes the 9 hatchlings died?
 
Three of them drowned in a flash flood.

The last chick to die was so sick that it had to be euthanised.

I suspect that some chicks might be born with genetic problems giving the very small gene pool.
 
Miss Chicken said:
The last chick to die was so sick that it had to be euthanised.
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Aw, man, that's terrible. :(

Genetic problems could definitely be an issue. I wonder if they are doing anything to stir up the gene pool as much as possible.
 
They are attempting to artificially inseminate using the semen of the genetic healthy males that the girls are ignoring. Most notable males being used are Sinbad and Gulliver, the two sons of Richard Henry who was the last bird to be caught in Fiordland. His daughter Kuia breed for the first time this year.

Until the young birds are genetically tested it will not be known if Sinbad or Gulliver are fathers as the female inseminated with their sperm also mated with other males so no-one knows which of the guys are dads.
 
Great news - a crowdfunding has raised enough money to sequence the genome of every living kakapo. This will be the first time in the world that an entire population of animals has had its genomes sequenced.
 
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Awesome!!! =) But how do they propose do do that? By collecting shed feathers or by catching every single one and taking a sample? The first is a bit tricky for the lab tech as shed feathers contain only very little DNA - torn out ones are much better as their shafts contain a little blood; the latter will be a hell of stress for the birds.
 
Miss Chicken said:
They are attempting to artificially inseminate using the semen of the genetic healthy males that the girls are ignoring.
Click to expand...
That's fantastic.

Miss Chicken said:
Great news - a crowdfunding has raised enough money to sequence rge genome of every living kakapo. This will be the first time in the world that an entire population of animals has had its genomes sequenced.
Click to expand...
That's pretty amazing. Crowdfunding is a wonderful thing.
 
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