Discover how kōkako, a New Zealand native bird, has come back through innovative naturalist John Innes’s research and conservation programs.
Once on the brink of extinction, the native New Zealand kōkako has made a miraculous recovery, and much of this is thanks to the tireless efforts of ecologist Dr. John Innes. For the past forty years, Dr. Innes has been instrumental in the conservation of this species and in its study in order to understand and mitigate the risks to it.
In 1980, when the kōkako was under serious threats from habitat loss and predation, Dr. Innes began working with the New Zealand Forest Service. His early research was mostly concerned with how possums affected local wildlife. Dr. Innes and his team discovered that possums preyed on birds, their eggs, and their young, defying the then-held notion that these pests were mostly herbivorous. This discovery brought about the more effective conservation tactics and shifted the focus of possum management initiatives throughout the country.
Building on this basis, Dr. Innes established an innovative eight-year experimental pest management program that provided clear evidence as to why kōkako declined. His research demonstrated predation by introduced species, such as rats and possums, as a primary cause. His results further emphasized targeted forms of pest control in areas critical to the survival of kōkako.
Outside of his scientific work, Dr. Innes has been an active member of the Department of Conservation’s kōkako recovery group. His input and lobbying have played a significant role in designing and implementing recovery programs that have shown the kōkako populations to be recovered in several regions. The haunting song of the kōkako can again be heard in forests where the species had been absent for so long, testament to the concerted conservation efforts that have paid off.
Such a marked turn around in the fortunes of the kōkako species that has taken place here is a very encouraging example of how careful scientific study, along with concerted action for conservation, can reverse the situation for endangered species. It is indeed the lot of Dr. John Innes that he has devoted himself unremittingly to the cause of learning and then protecting New Zealand’s avifauna- a status that is genuinely different.
