Kakapo puke sparks bidding war

Sirocco the Kakapo first shot to international fame after getting frisky with British celebrity Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwadine in the acclaimed TV series Last Chance to See in 2009.

Sirocco found Carwadine's hair inexplicably attractive, prompting Fry to exclaim: "You are being shagged by a rare parrot!"

Recently, and somewhat bizarrely, bidders on Trade Me clamoured to buy a unique piece of Sirocco-related history - his rejected 'pine chews' being sold on the popular online auction site. The 'parrot puke' eventually fetched $400!

The posting stated: "Not to be found anywhere else on the Mainland - this is a truly unique item. Impress your friends. Perturb your mother in law. Made of tenderly masticated pine needle and infused with the saliva of an extremely rare native parrot - and not just any old rare native parrot but Sirocco the famous head shagging parrot!"

Well, there you go. It was all for a good cause though - the money will be used to fund kakapo recovery.

Moa bone washes up on NZ beach

It's slightly old news now, but this story demonstrates how sometimes rare and unusual things will literally wash up at your feet!

A beachcombing walk on Onetangi Beach after the first big storm in late January 2011 yielded a rare find for young Waiheke Primary student Chris Anderson.

The seven-year-old discovered what turned out to be the lower leg bone of a small moa among the huge number of horse mussels washed up on the beach.

Read the whole story over at CFZ NZ.

Kakapo's priceless genes may help save species

A chick with "precious genes" has been flown from Codfish Island sanctuary to be treated by Wellington Zoo's resident kakapo expert.

The gangly grey chick is one of 11 hatchlings from this year's kakapo breeding season and could one day play an important role in the rare parrot's survival.

Kakapo have a 100 per cent herbivorous diet and rely on rimu fruit for much of their nutrition. In years when rimu trees fail to bear enough fruit, rangers give the birds pellets, but these can be too rich in protein and energy for the baby birds to tolerate.

Its mother, Solstice, was found on Stewart Island in June 1997. She was the first kakapo to be found and taken from the island in five years. She laid three eggs in 2002, but all of the chicks died before hatching. "This little chick is very precious, genetically," Dr Argilla said.

Solstice was artificially inseminated to increase the population's genetic diversity, so her chick would be a valuable breeding bird if it stayed healthy. Solstice One, believed to be a female, will be given an official name after her gender is confirmed and iwi have been consulted.

Dr Argilla said she completely disagreed with the suggestion by University of Adelaide scientist Cory Bradshaw this week that the "wonderfully weird" kakapo was among endangered species that were beyond saving.

"I don't think they are – DOC are doing such a good job," Dr Argilla said. "In 10 years they've managed to more than double the population, and also the big breeding seasons are happening closer and closer together, and there's now a higher percentage of females."

DOC's Kakapo Recovery Programme has increased the number of kakapo from 50 to 120 since 1995, not including the 11 chicks hatched this season.

NZ Kokako snapper sought

A tramper (a NZ word for hiker or bushwalker) who is believed to have snapped a photo of a rare South Island kokako in Kahurangi National Park is being hunted by a band of bird lovers.

Golden Bay's Alec Milne said the South Island Kokako Investigation Team was keen to contact a woman who took a picture of a wattled bird on March 29. The woman was tramping between Salisbury and Balloon huts at the time, he said.

"She was on the side of the track and beckoned to a backpacker to have a look at the bird which she said should not be there."

Mr Milne said he heard of the incident through a driver who later gave the backpacker a lift out of the park.

Mr Milne said securing a photograph of a kokako, which has been listed as functionally extinct by the Department of Conservation, would be a coup. North Island kokako have survived and are protected.

But numbers of South Island kokako, which had a distinctive orange wattle, had been extremely low for the last 100 years, he said. However, Mr Milne said 57 unconfirmed reported sightings were made of the South Island kokako in the 20 years to 2010.

Hunt on for NZ's mystery moose

In other parts of the world people seek Bigfoot, Nessie or the Tassie Tiger - but in New Zealand it is an elusive moose that has Kiwis on their edge of their seats.

A century after 10 Canadian moose were released in the southern wilds of New Zealand, a company's offer of NZ$100,000 ($74,300) for 'proof of life' has re-ignited speculation about whether any are still alive, The Southland Times reported today.

Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno told The Times that some people had searched for the moose for years and she was convinced one would be found in the Fiordland region - New Zealand's least populated area, in the nation's southwest - one day.

Last year Ken Tustin, of Bull Creek, near Milton, celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the release of moose in Fiordland with a book that details evidence of moose from the area.

The book, A (Nearly) Complete History of the Moose in New Zealand, details encounters with moose in the fiords and the many sightings of the animal by hunters, trampers, fishermen and lighthouse keepers.

The biologist had been collecting evidence and stories of moose in New Zealand for about 40 years and the book offered photo and DNA evidence from as recently as 15 years ago, he said.

Moa mysteries of NZ

Cryptozoologist Dr Karl Shuker explores the mystery of New Zealand's extinct (?) Moa, a large flightless bird about 12ft high that was hunted by the Maoris as a food source.

"One of the first mystery bird reports that I can ever remember reading appeared in A New Dictionary of Birds (1964), edited by A. Landsborough Thompson...The detailed moa entry, written by highly-acclaimed New Zealand ornithologist Dr Robert A. Falla, contained a section discussing the possible survival of Megalapteryx, one of the smallest moas (often dubbed the upland moa), into the 19th Century on South Island."

Read the whole fascinating entry here.

Rare extinct NZ Moa skull listed on TradeMe

A rare skull of Moa, a species of bird which became extinct thousands of years ago, has been put for sale on the internet by a New Zealand man who claims the artefact was discovered by his father in the 1950s.

The seller, Glen Brady of Hamilton, who trades under the name 'construct11' on the online trading website Trade Me, said the skull was discovered by his father in the 1950s while working for a bridge company in the Waitomo area of New Zealand.

'My father died a few months ago. He left the skull to me. It has been in a cupboard for many years,' Brady was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

The skull, belonging to the extinct Anomalopteryx didiformis, is 145 mm long, 80 mm wide and 65 mm high. The sale ends at 12.51 p.m. Friday.

Brady, who expects the skull to fetch him $10,000, said he was selling it to raise money for buying a house.

'I'm loathe to sell it. I'd like to keep it but it is the difference between getting into a house and not getting into a house,' he said. 'It is a very treasured possession, but it is a possession that will possibly change my life.'

He consulted Webb's auction house managing director Neil Campbell prior to placing the auction, who told him the artefact was very rare. Brady was not sure how much the skull was worth.

'I personally don't think $10,000 is too bad,' he said. 'I've never seen a moa skull on Trade Me before.'

Brady said he was waiting for written confirmation of the authenticity of the skull from Te Papa palaeontologist Alan Tennyson.

Te Papa spokeswoman Jane Keig said most of the museum's moa remains are not on display, the museum does have two skeletons on display and doesn't have the space to display all its moa remains.

She said the museum had around 100 full and partial moa skulls. 'The primary purpose of the artefacts is for scientific research,' Keig said.

To date, the skull has failed to sell.