The Takahe; A.K.A South Island Takahe is the worlds largest species of Rail and is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand.

This bird has quite the remarkable tale as it has come back from the dead, twice!.
Only bones were discovered for a while before a live bird was found by European settlers, two more specimens were found and shot but after that none were found and were declared extinct. However in 1948 a small population of Takahe was discovered in a remote location of Fiordland and a captive breeding programme begun.

Breeding Takahe proved a difficult task and the population actually decreased after their rediscovery, luckily after many years of careful planning and many volunteers and conservation workers, the population in on the rise with birds being bred and released into the wild yearly. The current estimated population of Takahe is 374 birds.

The Takahe is a large, flightless species of rail that is closely related to the Pukeko or Australasian Swamphen and they actually share a common ancestor. Their ancestor would have been blown to Australia and NZ, were in Australia they evolved into the Swamphen and in NZ the Takahe in the South Island and Moho in the North Island. Unfortunately the Moho became extinct after Maori colonization. The Australasian Swamphen was then blown across the Tasman sea to NZ, were we call it a Pukeko. So both species can be seen together.

The Takahe is a very special bird that many New Zealanders admire and they are very charming birds.