The Orange-bellied Parrot is one of (I think it's more endangered than the Kakapo, but childonias will correct me here) rarest parrots in the world, with less than 50 birds being left in the wild, all breeding in one small location, and spreading all along the South Eastern Coast of Australia. Here is the latest release on them In summary, the total population migrating from Tasmania was 25 birds, with another 25 surviving from this year! Amazing!
There's 131 kakapo total at this point in time. Theoretically orange bellied parrots numbers could be built up rapidly in captivity because Neophema species in general are very prolific, but I *think* the population might be quite inbred which is causing reproductive problems. I saw this species on their breeding grounds at Melaleuca in Tasmania in 2007 and it's very sad to think it could be extinct so soon, even before the kakapo
But did the breeding results in captivity drop? Because the video on the website of Zoos Victoria (which Healesville Sanctuary is part of) says that they breed about 40+ young a year (from 18 couples which is an ok result) and that the total programme has 75 young a year. Which should help to bring up the numbers fast.
I don't really know much about the captive population to be honest, but when I was in Tasmania there were a lot of problems with the released young birds having no survival skills and the local falcons treating them as their personal buffet. I think there were some other problems with them surviving as well but I can't recall what.
they release captive-bred birds on the breeding grounds in Tasmania and they follow the wild birds when they migrate. But realistically there's probably no good reason why captive-bred birds couldn't be used to create a sedentary wild population in Tasmania.
Yes it makes re-introduction more complicated and more challenging, but if the bird's habitat's on both side of the Bass Strait are protected this should not be preventing releases. We are dealing with a Neophema species and there have been quite high breeding results in the past (70+ birds born in a year is very good for such a species) so these numbers (if they are still reached) should be able to cover the losses of the first migration.
