Photo Credit: American Bird Conservancy
After a long time of conservation initiatives, a chicken species native to Hawaii was formally saved from close to extinction.
The ulūlu (aka the Nīhoa Millerbird) was downgraded from critically endangered to endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in December. Chris Farmer, the American Bird Conservancy’s Hawaii program director, instructed Hawai’i Public Radio that the mission is an “exciting, collaborative victory for Hawaiian conservation.”
The ulūlu is endemic to the northwestern Hawaiian islands of Nīhoa and Laysan. According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Laysan ulūlu inhabitants went extinct within the early 1900s after invasive plant, insect, and animal species have been launched to their ecosystem.
Conservationists have spent years working to forestall the ulūlu’s extinction. More than a decade in the past, a small variety of ulūlu have been transported to Laysan from Nīhoa island in an try to revive the extinct inhabitants. The relocation mission was successful and is taken into account to have drastically contributed to the ulūlu’s reclassification from crucial endangerment. Experts estimate that there are actually a number of hundred ulūlu dwelling on Laysan immediately, as reported by the Star Advertiser.
The ulūlu is one among a number of animal species which are not at extreme danger of extinction. However, the species nonetheless has a protracted strategy to go to be untouched by conservation threats. In recent years, federal funding cuts for Florida manatee safety initiatives have raised considerations that the marine animal could once more be on the point of extinction.
However, Hawaii-based conservation specialists are decided to proceed preventing for the ulūlu’s future.
“The population increase on Laysan will help protect this species’ future, and shows that long-term support and commitment can prevent extinctions of any other Hawaiian birds,” Farmer instructed Hawai’i Public Radio.
Hawaiians are additionally longing for the ulūlu’s future. The chicken was given its Hawaiian name in 2014 to honor native traditions.
“It was given this name [ulūlu], which means “growing things,” with the hope that its inhabitants will proceed to develop within the coming years,” a press release from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument reads.
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