Conservationists say five Hawaiian crows have been released on Maui for the first time as part of an ongoing effort to return the species to its home.

MAKAWAO, Hawaii. (AP) — Five Hawaiian crows on Wednesday were released on Maui for the first time as part of an ongoing effort to return the species to its home, conservationists said.

The Hawaiian crows, or alala, were last found on Hawaii’s Big Island, but they went extinct in the wild in 2002, officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said in a statement. The birds, described as intelligent and charismatic, are the last survivor of all the Hawaiian crow species. Habitat loss, predation and disease by introduced species are threats, among other factors.

“The translocation of alala to Maui is a monumental step forward in conserving the species and a testament to the importance of partnership in reversing biodiversity loss,” said Megan Owen, Ph.D., vice president of conservation science at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

  • @credo
    2•4 days ago

    Edit2: I’ll save you a read of my post. There is s much better article here with the needed detail why Maui was chosen: https://www.fws.gov/project/alala-project

    While ‘io research continues on Hawai‘i Island, simultaneously the ‘Alalā Project is planning a pilot release on Maui to evaluate whether ‘alalā can survive and breed in wet forest habitat on east Maui—where ‘alalā or a similar crow species lived historically and there is no ‘alalā predation threat from ‘io (‘io are only present on Hawai‘i Island).

    ——-Original post——-

    This article is [mostly] fine for a press release, but terribly lacking in details or links for more information.

    Thirty of the birds were reintroduced between 2016 and 2020 in the Big Island’s Puu Makaala Natural Forest Reserve. After several successful years, alala numbers began to decline and reintroduction efforts were paused, officials said. The remaining alala were returned to human care.

    (Very last paragraph)

    How will Maui be different? My assumption is because Maui is a less developed island, scientists anticipate a larger quantity of compatible habitat to support a stable population.

    Edit:

    I found this search result from Reddit (sorry, I’m not cheating!):

    Maui has more sandy beaches, is more verdant, and has both remote hiking opportunities and enormous resorts. BI is larger (duh!), is much less developed, definitely has more of a “chill” feel to it, has active volcanoes, high arid plains, and large cattle ranches as well the lush, tropical forests that you’ll also find on Maui.

    So… I have no idea now.