whenua

The collaborative research, which also involved scientists from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and the University of Adelaide, used state-of-the-art ancient DNA techniques to extract the DNA from historical specimens of the extinct Auckland Island merganser and the critically endangered Brazilian merganser and "went fishing for their DNA."

As a child, Tāne Davis often visited Whenua Hou, the most important of the three kākāpō islands.

During school holidays, Davis’s father, a crayfisherman, brought him and his siblings along on fishing trips in the frigid ocean that kept Whenua Hou isolated and safe.

Ngāi Tahu signed a 1996 settlement giving the iwi a special role in the management of Whenua Hou and, in recognition of the tribe’s centuries-long relationship with the bird, in the conservation of kākāpō.

In response, Bodie Taylor, a member of Ngāti Korokī Kahukura and the sanctuary manager at Maungatautari, traveled to Whenua Hou.