The number of kākāpō chicks has climbed to 54, with plenty more fertile eggs still to hatch on Whenua Hou and Pukenui/Anchor Island. Remote monitoring technology shows that seven kākāpō mums on Te Kakahu/Chalky Island are likely raising chicks as well. DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme is using a genetic ranking system to prioritise how much management attention each chick receives – Kākāpō Cam star Rakiura, for instance, is foster mum to a silver chick and also a gold chick. The oldest chick, Tiwhiri-A1, is ranked gold and a ground-breaking new portable PCR that allows rapid sex-testing of chicks on the islands has shown that he is a male.

Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected]

In this episode:

00:00 – Introduction
01:00 - Maddy Whittaker with egg and chick updates
03:50 – Males are stopping booming
08:00 – Rimu fruit ripening
08:40 – Chick and hatching deaths
09:30 – Updates on Alison, Queenie & Cyndy, & Tiwhiri-A1
14:46 - Andrew Digby on genetic ranking system for chicks
21:20 – Sex-testing chicks using PCR
25:25 – Alyssa Salton with kākāpō egg 101
29:58 - Closing credits…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details