14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service are happy to announce that a pair of endangered Hawaiian birds known as nene geese have recently been spotted on the island of Oahu.
This piece of news might not have caused as much stir as it did were it not for the fact that, according to conservationists, nene geese were last seen in the wild in said part of the world back in the 1700s.
Huffington Post tells us that, presently, about 2,000 birds belonging to this species are believed to be left in the wild, and pretty much all of them inhabit either the island of Kauai, or the island of Maui.
Thus, the only nene geese on Oahu were believed to be the ones living in captivity at the Honolulu Zoo, the same source informs us.
Specialists with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have not yet figured out how the two Hawaiian geese spotted in the wild on Oahu ended up in this part of the world.
However, what is clear is that they have not been brought here by humans, information made available to the public says.
According to wildlife biologist Steve Hess with the United States Geological Survey, nene geese have been documented to be able to fly over impressive distances.
Hence, it is possible that these two ended up on Oahu after departing from either Kauai or Maui and embarking on a journey towards this patch of land.
What's interesting is that, according to the wildlife researchers who have spent some time observing them, the nene geese on the island of Oahu did not just settle for setting up camp in this region.
On the contrary, they have also nested, and have recently produced three offspring. Apparently, the new generation of nene geese hatched at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.
“The fact that they would stop and raise youngsters over there – that's pretty remarkable,” wildlife biologist Steve Hess reportedly said in a statement.
Presently, nene geese are considered to be the sixth most endangered waterfowl species in the world. It is said that, back in 1778, at the time when Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, some 25,000 such birds inhabited these islands. Of this initial population, just 50 birds remained by the mid-1940s.
The nene geese family on Oahu is threatened by the expansion of human society, and will also have to deal with predators such as dogs, rats, and even mongooses. Still, conservationists are hopeful that they will manage to survive in the long run.