Studying Pacific pocket mice in their habitat is no easy task. The mice are tiny, and they blend into their surroundings. They burrow. And to top it all off, they are nocturnal. So how do researchers study them? Where there's a will, there's a way! They catch up the mice and inject bands of nontoxic, fluorescent, colored dye into their tails, different colors and patterns for different mice. Then the researchers turn off their head lamps, settle down, and wait for the light show! As the mice go about their nocturnal habits, the researchers can see the dye and track who is doing what and going where.

The Kuhl's lory had nearly been hunted to extinction for its feathers by 1900. Once found throughout the Austral Islands archipelago of French Polynesia, it only survived on Rimatara island because the queen and local population protected it there. However, expanding industry brought worries that the black rat, a threat to lory eggs and chicks, would arrive on Rimatara as it had on other Pacific islands. A conservation plan was hatched to translocate some of the birds to Atiu in the Cook Islands to develop a second population. The Zoological Society of San Diego and ZSSD researchers Alan Lieberman (seen here) and Bruce Rideout participated in the program to provide expertise and support. After much careful planning, the big day came in 2007 to transport 27 birds from Rimatara to Atiu. The Rimatara community bid farewell to their birds with speeches of concern, and the Atiu community welcomed the birds, the Rimatara delegation, and the project team with a week-long celebration of special songs written for the occasion, dances depicting the arrival of the lories, speeches, and feasts. The birds were released to the forests, and local guides continued to track them. Eight months later, they were doing well in their new home.

In the Field, Near and Far

From radio collars on koalas in Australia, to identifying dye in the tails of Pacific pocket mice at Camp Pendleton, to releasing Kuhl’s lories into new territory on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, 2007 took researchers on some exciting and rewarding conservation adventures.

2007

End Extinction 2007 - 2016

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