A decades-long effort to save a critically endangered Hawaiian crow from extinction is taking a new strategy — relocating the birds to a different island than their historical home. And the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is playing a key role.
The ‘alalā is native to the Big Island where earlier reintroductions were tried. In early November, however, wildlife experts released five of the birds on the island of Maui. The shift was made to avoid a Hawaiian hawk known as the ‘io that killed many of the released birds. The predator only lives on the Big Island.
The ‘alalā is the only surviving native crow species in Hawaii. Its decline is blamed on a loss of habitat due to logging and deforestation, as well as predation and diseases brought by introduced species. A sharp dip in numbers prompted some birds to be brought into captivity in the 1970s, and the last ‘alalā seen in the wild was in 2002.
