Save the Nene Goose

In 1949 there were fewer than 30 nene geese left in the wild. Because of an international bredding program, this unique bird has been saaved form the brink of extinction.

Lifestyle

The nene (pronounced nay-nay) is also known as the Ha-waiian goose. Most scientists believe that it is descended from the Canadian goose. But it is now found only on Ha-waii’s volcanic mountains.

The nene’s legs have become very strong as an adaptation to the rough ground of its habitat. The webs between its toes, no longer needed for swim-ming, have grown smaller.

Conservation

By 1947 the wild nene popula-tion numbered only 30 birds. In 1949 a new captive breed-ing program was begun at Pohakuloa in Hawaii to prevent the nene from becoming ex-tinct. Although the program was successful, progress was slow, and only 24 young, called goslings, were raised during seven breeding seasons. It was later discovered that the captive nenes had a low fertility rate. Lack of informa-tion about the birds also con-tributed to the poor breeding rate.

The nene was adopted as Hawaii’s state bird in 1957, but widespread support for the breeding program has only occurred in recent years.

Wildlfowl trust

The Wildfowl Trust at Slim-bridge, in England, pioneered conservation of the nene. The trust’s curator began a captive breeding program in 1950. Nine goslings were raised successfully in 1952.

By 1958 there were 53 nenes at Slimbridge, and breeding birds were sent to other coun-tries. By 1964 nearly 300 birds had been bred in captivity. Close to 1,000 had been born by 1970, and scientists returned 200 nenes from captive breed-ing sites to their natural habitat in Hawaii.

How the Nene became endangered

In the eighteenth century, the nene population numbered approximately 25,000. Little more than a hundred years later the bird was becoming rare. The cause of its rapid decline is linked to the arrival of settlers who altered the nene’s natural habitat.

Settlers introduced such animals as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, which bred rapidly because of the lack of predators. They soon de-stroyed the nene’s breeding grounds.

The mongoose was also in-troduced to the islands to control the rat population that damaged sugar crops, but it preyed on the nenes’ eggs and young. However, people were the most re-sponsible for the nene’s decline because they once hunted it for food.

Has it been a success?

The recovery of the nene (pronounced nay-nay) from near extinction is one of the most successful cases in the short history of wildlife con-servation. Scientists estimate that 750 nenes now live free in the wild. Yet little is known about the bird’s habits in its natural habitat. This means that the continued survival of the reintroduced wild popula-tions is not guaranteed.

pite the apparent suc-cess of the captive breeding program, it has had some negative effects on the nene population. For example, subtle genetic changes in the nene are unavoidable, es-pecially when the birds are kept in different conditions from those of their natural habitat. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of goslings (chicks) that are born with extremely thin, cotton-like down. This trait may have evolved to help those chicks raised in warmer areas. But now that the nene lives mainly in the cooler areas of its former range, the chicks may not survive because of their thin down. Nenes bred in cap-tivity also become less fertile, partly because of the in-breeding that occurs.

etter approach to saving the nene might have been to conduct extensive field studies to learn more about the bird, rather than to remove it from its natural habitat and breeding it in captivity. It is now gener-ally believed that rare and en-dangered species like the nene should be left in their natural habitats and that action should be taken to protect them within their environments.