Campbell snipe facts for kids
The Campbell snipe or Campbell Island snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance) is a very rare bird. It is a special type, or subspecies, of the Subantarctic snipe. This snipe lives only on Campbell Island, which is a subantarctic island south of New Zealand. Being "endemic" means it is found nowhere else in the world! Scientists officially described this bird in January 2010. Its scientific name, perseverance, comes from the ship Perseverance. This ship discovered Campbell Island in 1810. Sadly, the ship also likely brought rats to the island, which later caused big problems for the snipe.
Quick facts for kids Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Coenocorypha |
| Species: | |
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C. a. perseverance
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| Trinomial name | |
| Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance Miskelly & Baker, 2010
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Discovery and Survival
For a long time, no one knew the Campbell snipe existed. Then, in 1997, scientists were looking for another rare bird, the Campbell teal. By chance, they found a small group of snipe on a tiny, hard-to-reach rock called Jacquemart Island. Because of this late discovery, we still don't know much about the Campbell snipe. It remains one of the least studied birds in the world.
Snipe birds used to live on the main islands of New Zealand. However, they are now extinct there. They only survive on a few subantarctic islands. In 1840, a naturalist visited Campbell Island. He found that all the native land birds were gone. Rats from shipwrecks in the mid-1800s had destroyed them.
Rats and Recovery
Rats were a huge problem for the birds on Campbell Island. But in 2001, a big conservation effort removed all the rats from the island. This was the largest rat removal project ever done for conservation! People hoped the snipe would naturally return to their original home on Campbell Island.
In 2006, a group called BDG Synthesis helped fund a search. Snipe expert Dr. Colin Miskelly and James Fraser, with a special snipe dog, explored Campbell Island. They wanted to see if the snipe had moved back to the main island. They also wanted to collect DNA from the snipe. This DNA would help them compare the Campbell snipe to the extinct snipe from mainland New Zealand.
The good news was that the snipe had already returned! About 30 snipe were living on the main island. Everyone was very happy because they thought they would have to move snipe from Jacquemart Island by hand. But no human help was needed. The snipe are naturally repopulating the entire 11,000-hectare island, which is now free of pests.
