Deodorant Sought to Save New Zealand's Native Birds

New Zealand researchers have received a NZ$600,000 grant to develop a deodorant for native birds whose strong odors make them easy targets for introduced predators. Since the birds evolved without any mammal predators they emit a very strong odor compared to birds in other parts of the world. Canterbury University researcher Jim Briskie says kiwis smell like mushrooms or ammonia, while kakapo parrots have a hint of "musty violin case."

Comments

But

[oldhack]

How do they taste?

Re:But

[adamofgreyskull]

You joke, but there was a news segment earlier this year about a guy who wanted to farm kiwis as food. His reasoning being, that cows, sheep and chicken will never become extinct. Start eating them, and farming them, and they will be saved...

Re:But

[Spugglefink]

a guy who wanted to farm kiwis as food

Soylent Green?

survival of the fittest

[yincrash]

are we going to just deodorize them for the rest of time? i understand that it's probably our introduction of predators, but other than preservation in a zoo, how is it any way feasible or practical to deodorize them?

Re:survival of the fittest

[Moryath]

It's not feasible, but that never stopped a government full of fucking morons from authorizing this kind of waste of money before.

These are the same type of people who decided there were too many insects, so they brought in toads... then they brought in cats, dogs, bunnies as pets... they brought in foxes for "recreational hunting"...brought in "pretty flowers", "garden plants", and on and on.

It's a wonder that vineweeds like "St. Augustine Grass" haven't overrun the whole fucking island. Of course, they have enough trouble with ragwort...

Re:survival of the fittest

[richardkelleher]

In all likelihood, the deodorization process will break their breeding process and they will disappear completely in a year or two.

Re:survival of the fittest

[Rei]

Let me provide the history here. Let's look at the Kakapo, for example.

The Kakapo, or "owl parrot", is the heaviest (and only flightless) parrot species in the world. It is a unique evolutionary branch; it is the only member in not just its genus, but its own monotypic tribe. It has a wide range of unusual habits, such as being nocturnal and having a lek breeding system (where the males gather in a certain place at a certain time and put on shows to attract females).

It is incredibly well camouflaged, which was its defense in an area devoid of mammals which can hunt by smell. When cats, rats, ferrets, weasels, and stoats were introduced to New Zealand, however, it become a sitting dinner. The population on the mainland collapsed. In the late 1800s, they tried moving the remaining birds to Resolution Island as a sanctuary. In 1900s, stoats swam to the island and wiped out the entire population there in six years. So they tried moving the increasingly rare Kakapos to Little Barrier Island. Feral cats existed on the island, and the birds were never seen again. So they tried Kapiti island. The birds held out a bit longer against the feral cats there, but died as well. The bird went extinct on the north Island of New Zealand, and they were only rarely spotted on the south. A few times they caught enough birds to try to breed them in captivity. Every attempt failed. At several times, the birds were believed to be extinct or functionally extinct.

Then, in 1977, they found a small, precarious population of kakapo on Steward Island. There were no stoats, but feral cats were killing half the population every year. They had good luck controlling the cats, but could not eliminate them, so they began transferring the birds to even more remote islands and embarking on major predator eradication efforts. They finally got them to start breeding and increasing their numbers (although early on, polynesian rats were a huge predator of chicks). The population was down to about 40 in the mid 1990s, but is now up to 122 at present.

While the efforts to eradicate predators have been pretty successful, polynesian rats still remain a big problem in places. They go through great efforts to keep the rats away from the nests, including electronic devices with IR motion sensors that make bangs and flashes when rats approach. In short, for the time being, these species are entirely dependent on humans for their survival, and until a stable population can be reached, they will continue to need our assistance. The long term goal is to have stable populations on predator-free islands.

In the mean time, if you can make it so rats, cats, stoats, etc can't smell the defenseless birds? That'd be a huge, money-saving coup that could really help restore the populations.

Re:survival of the fittest

[sourcerror]

However their conclusion is quite the contrary to what you seem to suggest:

"Given the huge humanitarian and economic consequences of mosquito-spread disease, few scientists would suggest that the costs of an increased human population would outweigh the benefits of a healthier one. And the 'collateral damage' felt elsewhere in ecosystems doesn't buy much sympathy either. The romantic notion of every creature having a vital place in nature may not be enough to plead the mosquito's case. It is the limitations of mosquito-killing methods, not the limitations of intent, that make a world without mosquitoes unlikely.

And so, while humans inadvertently drive beneficial species, from tuna to corals, to the edge of extinction, their best efforts can't seriously threaten an insect with few redeeming features. "They don't occupy an unassailable niche in the environment," says entomologist Joe Conlon, of the American Mosquito Control Association in Jacksonville, Florida. "If we eradicated them tomorrow, the ecosystems where they are active will hiccup and then get on with life. Something better or worse would take over." "

Re:survival of the fittest

[Just_Say_Duhhh]

Wouldn't it be easier to make a Kakapo-scented TRAP?

If you can't get rid of the predators, at least help the predators select out their taste for Kakapo

Re:survival of the fittest

[ChrisMaple]

It is simply not possible to meet all human needs. That you don't undrestand this is an indication that you don't know how vile some people are. There are people who destroy stuff for the fun of it or because they're too drunk/drugged to know what they're doing, or care what they're doing. Having destroyed their own stuff, they'll whine that their needs aren't being met, and there will always be others who insist that a third party provide their needs.

People who do not deserve to live, should not be helped to live off the efforts of others. A person who helps someone who is immoral, is performing an immoral act.

What? Deoderant repelling prey?

[Beerdood]

I find that hard to believe. According to the commercials I've seen, deodorants like Old Spice and Axe body spray seems to attract natural predators like cougars more than they repel them.

Re:Reproductive system.

[eln]

This is a valid concern. Once you introduce deodorant into their lifestyle the female of the species will start to naturally gravitate toward the males that smell less like an old shoe and more like Old Spice. This will naturally encourage more of the males to use the deodorant. From there it's only a matter of time before these things are drenching themselves in Axe body spray and getting fake tans.

Re:I know hippies will mod me down for this

[Moryath]

Also, one would imagine if they tasted good, New Zealand would long ago have started farming them and introduced "New Zealand Fried Kakapo" restaurants all over.

I suppose it would be bad for them to all die, but I'm not sure why, exactly.

Species go extinct all the time. They did it before humans, they'll do it after humans. Some of them do it to themselves, some succumb to natural climate shifts, some wind up as dinner due to an evolution by a predator. One good volcanic eruption can take out a whole bunch of them - and if it burns up most of the plant material on the island, the herbivores are pretty much doomed.

Humans are the most arrogant idiotic species on the planet: we're so damn arrogant we actually think we can save species of animals from the normal course of change, e.g. extinction.

Re:I know hippies will mod me down for this

[John Whitley]

I suppose it would be bad for them to all die, but I'm not sure why, exactly.

Wow, what's not to understand here?

1. Animal adapts to its native environment, and survives just fine.
2. Humans introduce invasive, non-native species that displace and/or devastate native species. Being capable of awareness of our environment and capable of compassion, we eventually feel like fuck-ups for this. "Damn, made a mess. Maybe should go clean it up."
3. We try to do something about it.

It's #2 that's key, and it doesn't require being a "hippie" to get it. Even non-hippies manage to keep a clean house. Is that sentiment so hard to grok?

Re:Reproductive system.

[russ1337]

Hello, ladies, look at your Kiwi, now back to me, now back at your Kiwi, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using dirt scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a Waka with the kiwi your kiwi could smell like. What’s in your beak, back at me. I have it, it’s an kina with two worms. Look again, the worms are now tikis. Anything is possible when your kiwi smells like Old Spice and not dirt. I’m on a sheep.

Re:What? Deoderant repelling prey?

[wisnoskij]

Well it might be hard to believe that it could work or that it is even feasible to accomplish if they had a working deodorant, but I find it easy to believe that a government would waste $600,000.

Re:I know hippies will mod me down for this

[John Whitley]

blah blah blah biodiversity blah blah ecosystem disruption blah blah blah(**)

(**) yeah, it's Friday and I'm feeling snarky.

They are not adapting to native environment

[SuperKendall]

Animal adapts to its native environment, and survives just fine.

No they aren't.

The native environment includes predators now. And it's not like we genetically engineered the things. They are natural too. It's not like species have not transferred locations before, it probably would have happened anyway someday even without humans.

Basically, they found a comfortable place for a time but made bad evolutionary choices that ensured some day they would be screwed.

Re:They are not adapting to native environment

[10101001 10101001]

The native environment includes predators now.

Um, I'm pretty sure the "native" word was to make clear that while now there are predators, they didn't get there on their own power.

And it's not like we genetically engineered the things.

Not yet.

They are natural too. It's not like species have not transferred locations before, it probably would have happened anyway someday even without humans.

I'm going to guess "no". The point is, it's a guess, just like your comment is a guess. Humans have intentionally or unintentionally introduced a lot of species into places where they would almost certainly would never have reached (ie, the birds would have died out before the cats came or the cats would have evolved and been a different species by the time they reached the islands). I think it's a bit too simple to act like humans aren't responsible for what has happened.

Basically, they found a comfortable place for a time but made bad evolutionary choices that ensured some day they would be screwed.

Or, you know, it could be that nature made good evolutionary choices. You know those feral cats killing the birds? What happens when all the birds die out? Yea, they might just all die out unless humans start feeding them (possibly with imported meat). There's a reason there's often not many, if any, largish mammals on islands: there's generally too much isolation for prey to move away resulting in large predator die-offs when their food supply runs low. Maybe the feral cats or rats will be small enough to survive. But it's not like the birds made a "bad evolutionary choice". You make it sound like they took the wrong path on a road or went out gambling and lost it big on the roulette. :)

Re:They are not adapting to native environment

[jrumney]

it probably would have happened anyway someday even without humans.

Someday, when feral cats learn to make boats stocked up with provisions and sail thousands of miles across the ocean.

Going about this all wrong

[dheltzel]

Instead of deodorizing the birds, they should just make a synthetic version of the smell and spray it all around the island, confusing the predators because the smell is everywhere.

Douglas Adams and kakapo

[FrankHS]

Here is a video of Douglas Adams (of hitchhikers fame) talking about the kakapo and why they are endangered. The Kakapo part starts at 3:00 into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3HR6mtkPP4&feature=related