Almost one-third of NZ’s native birds have gone extinct following human settlement

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-11-11 03:00

New Zealand

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Land animals around the world have suffered high rates of extinction following human settlement. An updated estimate has found that 56 native bird species are now extinct out of a total of 171 that were considered breeding at the time of initial human settlement in NZ. This estimate includes the Chatham Islands/Rēkohu and offshore islands. On a regional level, results show that extinction rates vary from 50% species extinction on the North Island to just 14.5% on offshore islands.