Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 21 hours ago
More endangered tara iti chicks have hatched!
So far, six healthy chicks are in the process of being hand-reared by our expert bird keepers. These chicks range from 3 to 9 days old and are being cared for in a special incubation room at the Zoo.
This marks the sixth-year of our conservation recovery programme with the Department of Conservation – and last year was our most successful year yet! The goal of this ambitious project is to boost numbers of tara iti (New Zealand’s most endangered bird), whose population is currently less than 50 individuals.
Each egg is carefully collected by DOC rangers and brought to the Zoo. Once hatched, the chicks are fed every 90 minutes for 12 hours each day – a huge commitment from our team over summer. Turn your volume on to watch the video, and you’ll hear a whistle and tara iti call which encourages these little youngsters to feed.
In a few weeks, these tara iti chicks will be old enough to be released to a predator-free pen in the wild, where they’ll be monitored by DOC and Zoo staff as they learn to fly.
It’s early in the season so there’s still more mahi to come.
More endangered tara iti chicks have hatched!
So far, six healthy chicks are in the process of being hand-reared by our expert bird keepers. These chicks range from 3 to 9 days old and are being cared for in a special incubation room at the Zoo.
This marks the sixth-year of our conservation recovery programme with the Department of Conservation – and last year was our most successful year yet! The goal of this ambitious project is to boost numbers of tara iti (New Zealand’s most endangered bird), whose population is currently less than 50 individuals.
Each egg is carefully collected by DOC rangers and brought to the Zoo. Once hatched, the chicks are fed every 90 minutes for 12 hours each day – a huge commitment from our team over summer. Turn your volume on to watch the video, and you’ll hear a whistle and tara iti call which encourages these little youngsters to feed.
In a few weeks, these tara iti chicks will be old enough to be released to a predator-free pen in the wild, where they’ll be monitored by DOC and Zoo staff as they learn to fly.
It’s early in the season so there’s still more mahi to come.
