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On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Takahē
about529
Estimate, no range
October 2024
Porphyrio hochstetteri
New Zealand, South Island wild sites and predator-free islands and sanctuaries
Counted October 2024, by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (released 1 October 2025).
The latest figure for the takahē is about 529, an estimate published without a range, dated October 2024 and released by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) on 1 October 2025.
About 529 takahē, wild and sanctuary birds together, and New Zealand's DOC calls predatory mammals their biggest threat.
How it was counted
The figure covers every takahē, as birds (not pairs or nests). The number of wild birds is modelled from ground surveys of a subset, the known birds at sanctuary sites are added, and New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) publishes the total as an estimate with no range.
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) publishes this as an estimate with no range, so read it as about 529 takahē rather than exactly that many.
Earlier figures
- 500 in October 2023: the previous count. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
What moves it
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) calls predatory mammals the biggest threat to takahē. It also names stoat plagues (a past plague cut the number of birds in the Murchison Mountains), stoats at new wild sites (takahē deaths at the Greenstone Valley site pointed to a stoat) and deer, which eat the same tussock as takahē.
- mammalian predators, which DOC calls the biggest threat to takahē. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
- stoat plagues: one in 2007 halved the Murchison Mountains population. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
- deer competing for the same tussock. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
- stoats at new wild sites: four takahē deaths in five weeks at the Greenstone Valley site in early 2025 pointed to a stoat. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Who is helping
Ngāi Tahu and New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) released takahē on Ngāi Tahu's Greenstone Station to set up a new wild population, and later in the nearby Rees Valley. DOC's Takahē Recovery Programme works to grow the number of takahē and to establish wild populations that can sustain themselves in the South Island's native grasslands.
The next count
Takahē counts are irregular, and no date for the next is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
New Zealand Department of Conservation
- New Zealand Department of Conservation Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Takahē: NZ native land birds Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Efforts to protect takahē stepped up as stoat takes toll: Media release 28 March 2025 Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): About 529 (Estimate, no range, October 2024).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.