Almost-Extinct Bird Is Now (Naturally!) Increasing in Number

For the first time in 15 years, over 80 critically endangered orange-bellied parrots have returned to their breeding ground in Tasmania.

Despite decades of dedicated breeding programs and the releasing of captive-bred birds into the wild, all conservation techniques thus far have “mysteriously failed” to boost the species’ numbers.

This parrot faces myriad threats: their winter habitats have been destroyed by modern agriculture and urban development, areas they once called home are now full of predators such as invasive cats and foxes, and they are one of only three parrot species that must make a long-distance migration – which many do not survive. Furthermore, the orange-bellied parrot is more vulnerable to disease due to their small numbers and low genetic diversity. Currently, projects are taking off in Tasmania that will boost the parrots’ natural food sources in the hopes that the increasing number of wild parrots will continue in a positive direction. This natural number increase is a real hope for a species nearly declared “functionally extinct.”