CFZ NEW ZEALAND: How the Takahe made a Lazarus-like comeback

A 'Lazarus species' is one that is presumed to be extinct and then reappears.

One such example is the Takahē, thought to have died out by 1898.

The bird was rediscovered in 1948 by Dr. Geoffrey Orbell, who wrote this article, which was originally published in the December 10, 1948 edition of the Listener, and recently re-published on its website.

Dr Geoffrey Orbell wrote:

My interest in the notornis (takahē) began some 30 years ago. I was looking through some old photographs belonging to my mother – a keen amateur photographer – when I came upon a print of a bird in a glass case. My mother explained that it was a picture of the notornis specimen in the Otago Museum, that only four of the species had been found and that it was now supposed to be extinct. That word “supposed” stimulated my boyish sense of adventure, and I read all that I could find about the notornis.

Read on...