All right, since people seem to like takahē I figure I better share a thread of the reasons rainbow chooks are one of my fave animals, and why they should be one of yours. 1/n https://twitter.com/TayTalksTrees/status/1285448763935297536

Takahē are endemic to NZ and are arguably our largest but certainly roundest extant native herbivore at just over 4kg. Their name takahē is a māori word for best pronunciation follow this link and listen. https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=takahe

They are basically giant juicers, they eat grass, and poop out the indigestible parts. Which ends up creating quite the mess, with takahē dropping around 8 meters of poop every single day. Check out this clip for more feces facts.

Takahē were once even declared extinct!! After 1898 no one saw one for many years and it was assumed they had eaten their last grass. Until 1948 when Geoffery Orbell rediscovered them near te anau. Not long after numbers were low around 100.

The main problem is because they evolved for ~ 30 million years with almost no ground predators. When mustelids, rats and cats got introduced into NZ by people takahē stood no chance. The green on their backs is to help hide from aerial predators like the 3m wingspan haast eagle.

The second problem was that deer and takahē eat the same food. NZ grasses much like takahē were not ready for the introduced mammals and have not fared well in their presence removing a lot of suitable food sources.

People thought maybe we might actually lose these awesome birds for good. Thankfully due to some passionate people and good strategies a breeding programme involving islands and sanctuaries has brought the numbers back up. My fave thing is the sock puppet they used to feed chicks

Thankfully the takahē population is now up to over 400 birds, and a second wild site, combined with the sanctuary populations has meant a decrease in threat classification. You can see them at @aucklandzoo @ZEALANDIA @rotoroaislandnz @NZEcosanctuary @pukahaorgnz and others.

The takahē in the original vid is waimarie she is 3 yo and has a 2 yo boyfriend called Bennet They moved to @NZEcosanctuary about 2 months ago with the hope that they get busy to make tiny fluff balls to help increase the pop. Photo is of our old pair Quammen and Paku #goals

There is just something about these round, rainbow, food focused, grass juicing, rare, chicken looking dinosaurs that makes me happy every time I see one. Once @SophieFern told me that humans prefer round shapes as we perceive them as friendly and safe. Maybe that's their secret

And that's the takahē for now, for more takahē science follow @takapodigs. For a good read check out this article by the amazing @NZGeographic https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/takahe-the-bird-that-came-back-from-the-dead/
And hopefully I will be posting pics of some smaller takahē in the not too distant future.