In the mid-90s, there were only 51 individuals left of the endangered parrot Kakapo.
50 of them lived on the island of Rakiura, also known as Stewart island off New Zealand.
On the mainland there was a single live parrot, a male called Richard Henry.
Threatening inbreeding
Due to inbreeding that lasted for 10,000 years on isolated islands, many were afraid that the cockatoos would not be able to survive.
Today, the offspring of these 51 birds have grown to a population of 200 birds and now geneticists have mapped their genome to find out the degree of inbreeding.
- It seems that during these 10,000 years they have also got rid of these mutations that are the basis for genetic diseases, says Love Dahlén who is a professor of evolutionary genetics at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.
Get rid of harmful mutations
This ability to get rid of harmful mutations now also gives hope to other endangered animals of which there are only small populations left.
Love Dahlén is also a co-author of the study on kakapon's genome which has been published in Cell genomics.
Play the video to see how a kakapo roams the green.