Longest kākāpō breeding season

<p>With 75 living chicks and the final three eggs due to hatch this week, the 2019 kākāpō breeding season is set to be the longest on record.</p><p>The number of living kākāpō chicks has risen to 75, with the final three due to hatch this week.</p><p>The oldest chicks are already beginning to leave their nests at night although they are still returning to sleep there during the day.</p><p>Daryl Eason, from the Department of Conservation&#x27;s Kākāpō Recovery team, says that the sex ratio of the first 49 chicks to be tested is 22 females and 27 males.</p><p>The technique for determining the gender of kākāpō, using either a small blood sample or tiny amounts of membrane left in the eggshell after hatching, was developed by Associate Professor Bruce Robertson at the University of Otago.</p><p>This season, a genomics team at Agresearch is carrying out the DNA analyses to determine both gender and paternity of all the chicks. Jeanne Jacobs says the team is currently determining the paterni...