An alala egg is candled to check on its fertility.
It was a day in mid-May 1996, like any other at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center in Hawaii. But this would turn out to be a day to remember! Marla Kuhn opened the door to the staff meeting room, interrupting our usual Tuesday meeting. She was on the egg-and-chick shift and was not expected to attend the staff meeting, so her quiet entrance took everyone by surprise. All eyes turned to Marla, and the look on her face told me something was wrong. ”What died?” I whispered. She paused, looked at all of us one by one around the table, and spoke slowly, barely audible, perhaps out of fear that she could be wrong, “It’s fertile.”
She was speaking of the most recent wild egg collected from the last wild pair of Hawaiian crows, or álala, in existence. This would turn out to be the last egg ever laid by a wild álala, and it was fertile! We all sat silent. This was almost too much to hope for!
We knew this was a big deal, but it would take years before we recognized the true significance of this egg. This would be the egg that would change the future of the alala recovery effort. The egg hatched on June 9 of that year. It would be identified as Studbook #67 and named Oli, meaning “ritual chant” in the Hawaiian language. And although Oli would turn out to be a reluctant breeder, producing but six offspring over the years, his overall contribution to the gene pool has been monumental. Oli’s unique genes are now represented by no less than 47 of the 110 birds in the world population.
A fertile egg.
Thanks to the genetic vigor of the offspring from Oli’s genetic line, the program produced a record 19 chicks in 2011, a full 15 years after Oli hatched in 1996, and 15 chicks in 2012! We knew that last fertile egg was huge, but we never realized what a game changer it would be until these last few breeding seasons, where production has constantly and consistently improved. The ability to breed from unrelated stock coupled with the improvements and changes in the incubation, nutrition, and management of the flock has put the Alala Recovery Program on solid footing. We are now anticipating releasing alala in 2014, a full 20 years after we began our conservation program in 1993.
There is still much to be done: eliminate nonnative predators, invasive plant species, cattle, sheep, and pigs; dry up the wallows where mosquitoes thrive; and fence off the forests that will require recovery to support the expanding alala population. These are all great challenges, but motivated by our exceptional success in breeding the alala, the government agencies of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife are up to the task of habitat recovery and long-term management. This is truly a partnership for the next generation, because we are speaking in terms of many years, many generations both avian and human.
The forests of Hawaii have suffered many insults over the past 2,000 years, and it will not be easy to recover from the damage. But all agree that the alala is a key, perhaps THE key, to a healthy Hawaiian forest on every level: biological, ecological, and, most importantly, cultural. The alala is to Hawaii what the bald eagle is to the US as a nation. The alala has motivated Hawaii to begin the long path to habitat health, and we are most proud to be leaders in that effort.
Alan Lieberman is a research fellow at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.
What a wonderful blog on so many levels. Thank you for sharing.
Mahalo for saving the alala!
What an encouraging report! Are Alalas on exhibit anywhere in the US?
Wonderful news. Congratulations!
Hi, Paula.
Currently the entire alala flock is held at KBCC and MBCC on the Big Island and Maui. With one noticeable exception: a venerable old male named Kinohi is held off-exhibit at the Safari Park’s Hospital, where he undergoes extra-special care as part of a Reproductive Physiology research project. Kinohi is genetically very valuable but has difficulty interacting with female alala, so this study hopes to harness his genetic potential by alternative means. (Kinohi was featured in an earlier blog: Alala: We’re Getting Closer).
Although both KBCC and MBCC are closed to the public for most of the year to maximize our ability to breed the birds, we do hold open house weekends at both facilities in the Fall. We also have an education program for local schools, in collaboration with Kamehameha Schools, presenting an opportunity for young people to experience the charisma, behavior, and size of a few of our education birds.
Now that the alala population is over 100 birds, we MAY consider the possibilities of alala going on-exhibit somewhere as a valuable educational resource. No plans yet, though. And crucially, any alala going on exhibit would require very serious consideration to the management of the captive breeding program, the proposed reintroduction program, and with the greatest respect for the importance of alala in Hawaiian culture.
Possibly more details than you were asking for!
Very best, Rich Switzer, associate director of Applied Animal Ecology at the Institute for Conservation Research.
Thanks for this great blog Alan and Happy Anniversary. What a great feeling you all must have knowing that all your hard work is making a difference. Continued success.
I am so glad to find your blog and read with interest your adventure with ‘Alala. I am a Hawaiian storyteller and writer currently researching the broad and valuable nature of the one with loud voice, ‘Alala.
Yesterday my son and I saw a bald eagle perched in a limb not far from the highway where we drove to a nearby shopping center. We live in the Pacific Northwest now, though I am a Hawaii born woman. I said to my son, “In your lifetime we have seen the near extinction of the eagle turn around in a significant way.” We both recognized the importance of that turn around. Contemporary science and ancient roots together make a powerful story.
I mua with that kind of story. I look forward to the morning when ‘Alala sounds his calls just as those I hear now in the woods of The Salish Sea.
Aloha Mokihana… I share your excitement and anticipation in seeing and hearing the alala in native habitat once again. The Big Island forests have been too quiet for too long. If all goes well in the breeding efforts of the captive flock in 2013 and 2014, we hope to begin releasing alala at the end of 2014 in collaboration with our partners in the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the HI Division of Forestry and Wildlife. Plans and strategies are being developed now for what will certainly prove to be a most exciting adventure. Watch this blog site for updates and plans as we get closer to the reality of having alala in their rightful place in the forest.
Estimado Alan
Por favor enviame un mensaje a mi email para enviarte algunos artìculos sobre aves.
Hector AGUILAR
Saludos
Hèctor
YARRELLII DE GMAIL