キウイのひな誕生、野生では１５０年ぶり　ＮＺ首都

【ウェリントンＡＦＰ＝時事】ニュージーランドの首都ウェリントンでこのほど、キウイのひな４羽が生まれているのが確認された。野生環境では約１５０年ぶりとされ、保護活動家らが喜びの声を上げている。（写真は、ニュージーランド・ウェリントン西部で生まれているのが見つかったキウイのひな。キャピタル・キウイ・プロジェクト提供）
　ふわふわした羽毛を持つ飛べない鳥キウイは、同国の象徴として愛されているが、野生のキウイを見たことがある住民は少ない。
　慈善団体「キャピタル・キウイ・プロジェクト」は昨年、首都でのキウイ再導入を目指し、数十羽の成鳥を近郊の山に放した。
　同団体は先週２羽、今週さらに２羽のひながかえっているのを確認。ウェリントンの山中でキウイが生まれたのは、ここ１５０年超で初めてとみられている。
　ポール・ワード代表はＡＦＰに対し、ひなの誕生は「ここ数年努力してきたチームにとって極めて特別なこと」であり、「ウェリントンの裏山でキウイの野生個体数を増やすという目標において、非常に大きな節目だ」と喜んだ。
　ワード氏によると、同団体がこれまでに放した成鳥６３羽のうち、観察を続けているのは４分１のみ。そのため同氏は、さらに多くのひなが生まれている可能性があると期待を示している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/06-16:13）

Conservationists in New Zealand celebrated on Tuesday after discovering that kiwi chicks had been born in the wilds around Wellington for the first time in more than a century.
The fluffy, flightless bird with a long distinctive beak is a beloved national symbol, but few New Zealanders have ever seen one in the wild.
Kiwi are among the most vulnerable birds in New Zealand.
The Department of Conservation estimates there are only about 26,000 brown kiwis left.
Last year, the Capital Kiwi Project released a few dozen adult birds into the wild near Wellington, hoping to reestablish a population in the area.
They have now discovered four chicks -- who are believed to be the first born in the hills of Wellington in more than 150 years.
This is very special for the team which has been working hard for the last few years, project founder Paul Ward told AFP.
The chicks are a massive milestone for our goal of building a wild population of kiwi on Wellington's back doorstep, he added.
A project volunteer had a shock when he put his hand in a nest under a tree last week and pulled out a freshly-hatched kiwi chick, Ward said.
He was very pleasantly surprised when another shot past him. We found two last week and then another two today.
The goal is for the fledgling chicks to reach a fighting weight of 800 grammes, Ward said, to be large enough to ward off stoats, their natural predators.
We'll go out and give them some extra worms for Christmas to put on weight, Ward joked.
An adult kiwi weighs about three kilogrammes.
In order for kiwi to be able to return to the rugged hills south-west of Wellington, the project first had to rein in their predators.
Local dog owners were invited to sessions to teach their pets to steer clear of kiwi while out for walks.
The project also declared war on stoats by laying a huge network of 4,600 traps over an area equivalent to nearly 43,000 football pitches.
Ward hopes the fluffy chicks are just the beginning.
We are only monitoring a quarter of the 63 (adult) birds which have been released, so it is likely there will be more (chicks) out in the wild, he added.
We have high hopes these will be the first of many.