Show notes
Chris recounts the recovery of New Zealand’s Chatham black robin (karure/keruru), an island species devastated by habitat clearing and introduced predators like rats and cats, until its range shrank to tiny Mangere Island.
Numbers fell from 18 birds in 1972 to seven in 1976, then to five by 1980 with only one breeding female, “Old Blue,” paired with “Old Yellow,” leaving the species’ future dependent on her.
Chris tells the story of how conservationists and the New Zealand Wildlife Service team, led by figures like Don Merton, combined translocation, predator control, habitat restoration (including planting about 120,000 trees), and pioneering cross-fostering led to this species survival.
Timeline
00:00 Welcome and Setup
00:59 Island Origins and Threats
02:58 Collapse to Seven Birds
05:12 Only Five Left
08:23 Old Blue Last Female
12:06 Why Every Egg Matters
16:49 Radical Egg Moving
18:31 Cross Fostering Breakthrough
23:07 Habitat and Predator Control
27:37 Numbers Rebound
30:52 Hope and Wider Lessons
33:23 Ongoing Work Today
36:05 Northern White Rhino Parallel
37:41 Final Takeaway and Hope
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