Once found all over the North Island, deforestation, disease, and the introduction of predators led to its eventual exclusion to Te Hauturu-o-toi/ Little Barrier Island.
There are now seven wild populations of hihi across New Zealand, with estimates of upwards of 2000 across the country, making it one of our rarest birds.
Read the full article about the hihi population at Zealandia here
I have been interested and working with hihi since I was involved with establishing the Tiritiri Matangi island population through translocation in 1995. I am now employed as a Research Fellow at the Zoological Society of London and have been here since 2004. My research is multi-disciplinary and focusses on small population biology and management. I use decision science to assist in planning hihi management and drive our applied research with this species and have experience in molecular and behavioural ecology, wildlife health and nutrition and reintroduction biology.
