• Question: How many of those birds are there in the wild?

    Asked by to Andrei, Ekbal, Gemma, Helen, Ruth on 15 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ekbal Hussain

      Ekbal Hussain answered on 15 Jun 2014:

      Hi,
      I’m sure Helen can give you a more detailed answer when she’s on, but I found this useful website with some nice information on the Echo Parakeet: http://www.mauritian-wildlife.org/application/index.php?tpid=30&tcid=32

      The website says: “The Echo Parakeet population has increased from the 8–12 birds known in 1986 to an estimated 540 birds in April 2011.”

      That’s not a lot at all! 🙁

      I am a big fan of wildlife and strongly believe that we should be trying our best to save animals like this from disappearing from our planet. This is why Helen’s work is so important.

    • Photo: Andrei Luchici

      Andrei Luchici answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi,

      Like Ekbal, I’m not an expert on this, but after doing a search on Google, I found that there is a lot of uncertainty about the actual number of birds in the wild. You can imagine it is very hard to keep track or estimate their number.

      However, this info caught my attention. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature website there are around 10,000 species of birds worldwide who are on the threatened species list!! That’s a lot!

      Here’s the website if you wish to read more about it: http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/our_work/birds/

    • Photo: Helen Gath

      Helen Gath answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      At this moment in time, there are approximately 500-600 indviduals left in the wild. This is an amazing number, given the fact that in the late 1980s – over 20 years ago – it was estimated that between 8 and 20 individuals remained! It’s very rare for a population of birds to increase in numbers so rapidly , another reason their story is so special.

      When I estimate 500-600 birds, I do so because not all wild birds are seen every year. They may not be breeding, they may have died, or because the forest is so large and there are only 3-4 staff looking for them, they simply may not have been found. Only after several years of not seeing them can we assume they’ve died.

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