Kotahitanga and kākāpō

Kākāpō chick numbers continue to climb. The latest tally is 64 chicks, including one named Kotahitanga, meaning unity and solidarity.

The number of living kākāpō chicks has risen to 64, with plenty more due to hatch in the next few days.

Among the chicks is one that hatched early in the morning of Saturday 16 March 2019, the day after the mass terror shooting in Christchurch. The Kākāpō Recovery Team has named that chick Kotahitanga, meaning unity or solidarity.

Kotahitanga's mother is eight-year-old Waikawa, who has laid an incredible eight fertile eggs this breeding season, adding to four fertile eggs she laid in in the last breeding season in 2016.

The total number of chicks hatched in this year's bumper kākāpō breeding season is 71, and there have been 7 chick deaths.

As of early evening on 22 March, there are a further four eggs pipping and about to hatch.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details