Presentation report

Today, I would like to introduce about birds of endangered species in New Zealand. There are various birds especially rare birds such as kiwi, kakapo, Takahe and robin etc.

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Kiwi

However, there were more rare birds like moa, huia, before human arrived. Many of birds in New Zealand can’t fly because there were no human so it’s safe for birds to live in the ground. But when Maori came to New Zealand, they hunt moa a lot to eat or make feather and ornament. In addition, European started to live with pets like dog or cat, and their pets kill not-flying birds. Also nature where birds live decreased. So, one third of birds which live in the ground died and 73 types of birds peculiar to New Zealand are endangered species.

So today DOC has taken various actions to save these birds. Then, I tell you what DOC does. DOC is the Department of Conservation. They are the central government organization to conserve New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage for all to enjoy now and in the future. They have protected, reproduced, and breed animals and natures. They succeed to prevent to vanish about many species. The latest example is kakapo. They increased it from 60 to 80 birds. DOC plays very important role in NZ. Recently, Westland Tai Poutini National park is 50th anniversary. It was created in March 1960. A reunion is planed to celebrate 50th anniversary of the park.

These are many examples of rare birds in NZ. The first is kiwi. Kiwi is national bird of NZ. Of course, they can not fly. They have hefty legs and they can run so fast. People are loved by them. Therefore they often keep up with humans. The death rate of grown-up kiwi is 5-16%, and the rate of child kiwi is 98%. So DOC set up some facilities. One of the facilities is Kiwi encounter in Rotorua. They try to incubate and breed artificially and take back nature. At present, there are 75,000 birds.

Second bird is takahe. It is also rare bird as same as kiwi. They were once found everywhere on both mainland islands. An adult takahe weighs up to 3 kg and stands up to 50 cm tall, about the size of a chicken. As typical of most of the flightless birds, it has short stout but strong, red legs. They have small wings but it is only used for display.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Takahe→

Third is robin. They are very friendly and they often close to people. We can look their dance which is action to find their food. Their food is insects. Most of NZ birds eat insect and flutes. Robin is 18 cm and they can live from 6 years to 13 years. Robin is known for pretty birds.




←Robin



Next bird is kakapo. They are parrot in English and they are protected by DOC. Kakapo is the heaviest parrot in the world. The average is 3.5 kilogram and their size is 64 centimeters. In addition, they can live over 60 years and they are nocturnal. Now, DOC said we can succeed to breed. It increases from 60 birds to 80 birds. Moss-green feathers, camouflage are the bird’s main form of defence.


　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Kakapo→


Next bird can not see on the earth because it disappeared before we are alive. The name is moa and it says starling in English. It had vanished bird about 400 years ago and it was said only one non-feather bird in the world. Moreover it was the largest bird in the world at once. It means moa was larger than ostrich. But after the Europeans came into NZ, they are used as edible (fit to be eaten) bird. So they are eaten by people and their pets like dogs or cats. Giant moa was 3 meters. In addition, there are many threat species in New Zealand. But some of the bird is no-information on the web site. But only the name is appearing. For example, huia.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Moa→

Fainally is huia. The huia was probably New Zealand's most eccentric bird. It was a large 48 cm black bird with a bright orange "wattle" at the base of an ivory beak. It had a distinguishing wide band of white at the end of its long tail feathers. Huia feathers are a traditional Maori symbol of authority. The Prince of York followed the old custom of wearing huia tail feathers in headdress, by placing the feather in his hat. This set off a world fashion trend that was devastating for huia.




←Huia





This is my opinion. I think DOC is good activity to protect birds. In Japan, it has many protect species like toki. So I think I wish Japan has organization like DOC. If the DOC is none, many species the number of species are disappear. If there are organizations like DOC in the world, many threat-species do not disappear.