![]() Tractor driver Michael Johnston discovered the footprints in March. New Zealand man discovers ancient moa footprints while taking dogs for a swim The veterinary surgeons had no precedent in the avian world, so adapted techniques used on humans and other mammalsĪnd still across the ditch - but this time the bird IS extinct:.An abnormal growth was discovered in the chick's skull shortly after it hatched.There are only 144 of the flightless and nocturnal kakapo left in existence, making the surgery important.The majority of the remaining population lives on two islands which have been cleared of predators. The kakapo is a flightless, nocturnal bird whose existence has been threatened by introduced species. The university said the chick has recovered from the surgery and is now healthy and it will be transferred to a wildlife hospital in Dunedin, where it will be paired with another chick to minimise its contact with humans. "This is a risky surgery and the common complications for this surgery in humans and other mammals include permanent brain damage, continued leakage of cerebrospinal fluid and the possibility of meningitis," he said. Professor Gartrell said with no precedent available, they took inspiration from surgical procedures in human medicine. The chick Espy 1B will be taken to a wildlife hospital in Dunedin where it will be paired with another chick. "With only 144 kakapo left in the world, this condition could be life-threatening for the critically endangered bird, so action needed to be taken, but nothing like it had been attempted before in avian medicine." The concern was that if this tissue was damaged this would open the brain to trauma and infection. "In humans, this spot fuses after birth, but this is highly unusual in birds as the skull has finished fusing prior to hatch. "The chick was hatched with a hole in its skull that allowed part of the brain and dura to herniate out," said Brett Gartrell, who led the team which performed the surgery. The surgery to repair the developmental problem had never been attempted in avian medicine. The chick was flown for free by Air New Zealand to Massey University's Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North where the vets took scans to identify the problem. There are only 144 kakapos left in existence, making the efforts to save the chick even more important. The chick, known as Espy 1B, was discovered to have an unusual lump on its skull shortly after hatching at a NZ Government-run conservation centre on Codfish Island, an island off the country's southern tip. New Zealand veterinarians have performed world-first brain surgery to save the life of a critically endangered native parrot chick. ![]() ![]() ![]() Vets perform world-first brain surgery on critically endangered kakapo chick in NZ ![]() Just goes to show, you have to watch how your birds are getting along very closely same species of not.This time Bazza is taking us across the Tasman for an unusual story. Perhaps my experience is an exception to the rule, but the only problems I had as far as how birds got along was problems between birds of the same species (they mostly just ignored the other species). I can't remember where I heard this, but maybe someone can clarify whether it's true?Īs far as keeping different species together, I had an aviary with doves, budgies, zebra finches, Japanese quail, a love bird, and cockatiels. So a female cockatiel is only capable of laying eggs within a certain range of size (and coloration for that matter), meaning that even if the female were the cockatiel and the male the galah, the result would still be a normal cockatiel egg. Click to expand.well Galahs and cockatiels are totally different species too, but yes they are in the same family, and sometimes different species in the same family can breed.Īnyhow I recall hearing that the size of the male bird will not affect the size of the egg the female lays. ![]()
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