New Caledonia’s endangered cagou now thriving after conservation push
The cagou, New Caledonia’s flightless national bird, has rebounded from about 60 individuals in Rivière Bleue park in 1984 to more than 1,000 today. Decades of patient work made it happen: a zoo breeding program in Nouméa that teaches chicks to forage before release, weekly predator patrols, and transmitters tracking 15 family groups so rangers can spot threats before they strike. In a second sanctuary in Farino, the population has roughly tripled since 2017 and is now nearing what the habitat can hold. With around 2,000 cagous left worldwide, this story offers island conservation everywhere a hopeful blueprint — proof that coordinated, long-term care can pull a one-of-a-kind species back from the brink.
