Takahe

• A large flightless bird named Takahe, which was believed to be extinct decades ago, has made a comeback to the forests of New Zealand’s South Island.
• 18 of these birds were recently reintroduced into the Lake Wakatipu valley, an alpine area on the South Island, where they had not been spotted for nearly a century.

ABOUT TAKAHE

• Takahe is characterised as a flightless bird, nearly 50 centimetres in size.
• With an average length of around two feet and weighing 2.7 kg in males and 2.3 kg in females, the takahē is the largest living member of family Rallidae.
• They have been an intrinsic part of New Zealand’s ecosystem since the prehistoric Pleistocene era, as evidenced by fossil remains.
• Characteristics –
  • blue feathers on their bodies, green wings, and a large red beak.
  • legs are pink, and they have a white undertail.
• The influx of introduced animals by European settlers, including stoats, cats, ferrets, and rats, decimated their population.
• They were officially declared extinct in 1898.
• However, their rediscovery in 1948 breathed new life into their existence, and their numbers have been steadily growing since then.
• IUCN status – Endangered