Wildlife Experts Seek to Restore Disappearing Hawaiian Crows

Reflect: If you could help bring back any animal to the wild, which one would you choose and why?

In the famous film, Jurassic Park, scientist Ian Malcolm is often remembered for saying, “Life finds a way.” But in sci-fi movies about dinosaurs and the real world, endangered species often need help.

That’s what zoologists are trying to do with the alalā (aka Hawaiian crow). They are trying to reintroduce the species to the wild. The birds went extinct in the wild more than two decades ago. Earlier this month, a team released three male and two female alalā on the island of Maui. They hope the revered species can be restored in the wild.  

“It means a lot to me to care for the alalā,” Keanini Aarona said in a statement. He's a Maui Bird Conservation Center bird specialist. “To me, and in my culture, the alalā are like our ancestors – our kūpuna. The forest wouldn’t be there without these birds.”

In Hawaiian culture, alalā are aumakua. That means animals that house the spirits of ancestors.  

A dwindling number of them have survived only in captivity. A previous attempt to reintroduce alalā on Hawaii’s Big Island from 2016 to 2020 failed. These smart birds are now flying uncaged in the Kipahulu Forest Reserve. Park staff and biologists are keeping a watchful eye on the birds.    

“The species was so close to being completely extinct. That’s really a precious thing that we’re trying to save,” Martin Frye told KHNL-TV. He's a Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project researcher. 

Photo of alalā bird from Wikimedia Commons courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service.