The Great Hihi Sperm Race
Male stitchbird/hihi (Notiomystis cincta) from Tiritiri Matangi. Not sure how fast his sperm is. Hello all, I can think of no post better to start off this new blog than a report on the Great Hihi Sperm Race, a fundraiser for hihi/stitchbird Notiomystis cincta conservation. Stitchbirds are a bird species that, while once common throughout New Zealand's North Island, nearly went extinct and is still in a bad way. By the 1880's the species was confined to Little Barrier Island/Hauturu, and even today is still limited to only seven small populations. Species recovery is plagued by a number of issues and they desperately need funding so they have come up with a novel idea: a stitchbird sperm race. If you go to their website you can choose one of the males from one of four study sites and place a $10 (or more) bet on him, if you think he looks like he has particularly speedy sperm. Dr. Helen Taylor from Otago University took videos of the sperm of 12...