‘Alalā: The Disappearance of the Hawaiian Crow

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rich Schwartz and I'm Abney Money. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of My Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization that oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. We're highlighting a new species. Each episode in Today's Conversation is dedicated to the Alla Lah also known as the Hawaiian crow. That Alla Llah is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, meaning up until two thousand and two, that's the only place it was found, but since then it's been considered extinct in the wild. We're going to discover how San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's efforts are helping to save the Alla Llah, as well as why these small, yet significant blackbirds are so important. Rick people probably have never seen an all allah. Does it have a special look or or a sound? For the most part, the Alla Lah, also known as you said, the Hawaiian crow, looks a little bit larger than the crows we have here on the mainland, but also maybe a little bit smaller than the ravens we have, so kind of in between. And interestingly enough, they do have a slightly different dialect, which means they're their calls sound different. It was really fascinating when I got to go to Hawaii and see our our bird conservation site and here that they have sort of this I don't know the cause, and the screeches, if you will, they just sound a little bit different. And it was notable enough even to me. I'm not like an official birder, but I could tell that that sounded just a little bit different. So why is a crow like the all alah so important? Well, there was a time when the all alahs were one of the largest native bird populations in Hawaii, So when you think about the large population, they obviously feel an important role in the ecosystem, and we have learned in the absence of them being in the y old, there's sort of this cascading effect in the environment, you know. Most notably, I think we could say because they are seed dispersers of native plants, so they'll eat the fruits and the seeds will pass through. This is a really important part for making sure that the rest of the ecosystem flourishes and of course all the other animals that rely on it too. Now not only do the plants rely on the all a law for seed dispersal, but also some of them for seed germination. So essentially, the way the plant structures the outer coating of the seed, it's too hard and too tough for water to penetrate unless it goes through an animals digestive system first. We see this in other plants as well, So the absence of the all ala not only prevents seed dispersal, but also then prevents the seeds from being able to germinate. So without the all allah some plants start to go away as well. What caused the all allah to disappear from the Hawaiian Islands, That's something I was curious about two when I first went over there to see our conservation center see what was going on. And unfortunately, it's sort of the perfect combination of several things. And hate I hate to use the word perfect because I usually been something good. But in this case, it was just several things kind of lined up that caused the collapse of the population. So it was a combination of the loss of the native habitat, a lot of areas were cleared for logging and for just honestly for human use, for pastures and for farming. And then you you coupled that with invasive species being introduced to the regions, so rats were never there before, domestic cats which also then roamed the area. And then here's an interesting one. They brought in some mangoose to try and control other populations of what they considered pest animals, but the mongoose ended up also being a problem for many many bird species because the mongoose love their eggs. So when when all of this kind of gets added together, um, it just kind of became that perfect storm for the collapse of the population. So, Rick, what would you say to someone questioning the ongoing conservation efforts people who believe that natural selection should determine if a species continues. Natural selection being the process that a species or organism that's better adapted to their environment is therefore more likely to survive and pass on their genes. Yeah, and I'm glad you brought this up, Atty, because this is something that we do get questioned on when it comes to a lot of our conservation efforts. And and so I think if natural selection was the cause of the population declined, then yes, that is something we should discuss and really look at. But you know, as we mentioned in the case of the Ali law, as with many species, the problems they face are human made and so we really have to pay attention to what we're doing and what we can do to kind of fix what has been broken. And the good news is because this is a human made problem, well, the solutions kind of rest on our shoulders. We can figure this out and we can create these solutions as well. So what all is being done to restore the all A law population. Well quite a bit. Like I said, I had the opportunity to go over there a few years back and it's really impressive. But to give sort of a backstory, since San Diego Do Wildlife Alliance has has been breeding these critically endangered allala at the Bird Conservation Center to Hawaii, and our team monitors breeding activity using remote cameras. We remove eggs from nests so we can artificially incubate them and hand rearing the nestlings. And this is important. Some people like wha wait, why are moving eggs from the nest See artificial incubation and hand rearing often results in a greater hatching and fledgling success, meaning we we have a greater success than seeing these little eggs and chicks become adults. And this is partially because some females don't incubate their eggs or feed their nestlings properly the first time. A lot of first time moms in the whild just don't take to parenting very well, and so you lose that opportunity of that generation. Oh and the other thing, removal of eggs for artificial incubation is really important too because many times this will trigger the female bird to lay a second clutch, meaning a second set of eggs. So in the one breeding season, potentially you can double the amount of eggs that are laid by doing this process. So it's actually very important. And of course all of this work is is pretty pretty intense. You know, they do a lot to really manage the results that we're getting to increase that population. And now since it started, I think there was roughly if I remember correctly, about twenty birds in the late nineteen nineties to today, we're about a hundred and ten or so, which is really impressive. And we'll talk more about the san Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance led efforts to reintroduce the all A law to the Hawaiian Islands right after this. Now it's time for the San Diego Zoo Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the Zoo. The San Diego Zoo has one of the largest colonies of Galapagos tortoises in the world. We've had these giants in our care since nine and one of the tortoises, Grandma, just celebrated her one d and thirty seventh birthday, and hey, did you know that all tortoises lack teeth? So when Grandma ate watermelon on her birthday to celebrate, she used the bony outer edges of her mouth to bite it off and mash it. Today we're learning about the all ala, also known as the Hawaiian pro Unfortunately, they've been listed on i u c n's Red List as extinct in the wild since two thousand and two. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is working with partners including US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service in the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife to re establish the Alla La population in their native habitats. Let's welcome San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance President and Chief executive Officer Paul barabault Hi. Paul, Hello, Abany girt to see again. So Paul, how did we get here? Why did the Alla Llah disappear from the Hawaiian Islands. Well, it's really a fascinating story. If you look over the years, non native cats, dogs, rats, and mongooses have been introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. Unlike many native birds, the allah didn't successfully adapt to avoid these invasive species. Additionally, some of these species, such as cats, actually introduced new diseases, and these threats only intensified as a forest habitats grew more fragmented or were destroyed due to various factors. So can you talk more about you know, what's being done now, what's the work going into saving these Hawaiian grows. Well, since we have bred the critically endangered allah at the Caho and Maui Bird Conservation Centers, and the importance of the work has intensified as the number of allah in the wild continued to plummet. So tell us more details about the work that goes into saving the Alla Llah. Well, there's a lot that goes into it, ebony. Our our approach starts with mo are during the Allaw breeding activity using remote cameras. This is in preparation for releasing birds that will one day reproduce in the wild. We are encouraging parent birds to raise their chicks completely on their own so they can be more successful independent parents in the future. So how is it going overall? What's been the outcome of the program? Well, our efforts have increased the population from fewer than twenty birds in the late ninety nineties to over ten birds today, and we've proven we can success when we recover birds in our past if we look at the success we've had with the California condor, so that's amazing to go from twenty to more than one hundred birds um today. What are the next steps? Well, all successful conservation work requires partnerships, and that is certainly no different here. We are collaborating, as you mentioned earlier, with the Division of Forestry and Wildlife with the Widie Department of Land and Natural Resources to release the Alaw back into their native habitats. But our challenge continues to be providing the Allah with the skills they need to thrive and breed success us fully after reintroduction. This work includes gathering data to improve the crows survival rates after release, so the birds almost need to be taught how to survive in nature. Can you describe some of the necessary skills. Absolutely, We've learned the releasing juvenile birds in social groups and providing them with supplemental food results in higher survival rates for the first year after release. We are also working on teaching the birds predator avoidance behaviors to encourage them to respond faster to natural predators. Recovering these iconic coin birds will continue to require innovation and collaboration to help them thrive in their native force. Amazing work. Thanks for sharing how science and technology is being used to reintroduce the all allot back into the Hawaiian islands where they're so important to the health and vitality of the forest. Thanks Paul, Thank you well. That wraps it up for the Al Allah. I'm Abney Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe and listen to our next episode, where we discussed an animal that when standing on the ground, can still look in a second story window For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdz w a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I heart Radio. Our producer is Mikia Swinton. Our executive producer is Marcy Dipina. Our audio engineer and editor is Amina Gnatra, with assistance from Matt Stillo and James Foster. For more shows from my heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.