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THE BHP WIRE —
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| North Island takahē | |
|---|---|
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| Fossil cranial remains of P. mantelli (7-13) compared to those of a smaller, extant member of Porphyrio | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Porphyrio |
| Species: | †P. mantelli
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| Binomial name | |
| †Porphyrio mantelli (Owen, 1848)
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| Locations where fossils have been found | |
The North Island takahē (Māori: moho)[3] (Porphyrio mantelli) is an extinct species of flightless swamphen that was native to the North Island of New Zealand. It is closely related to the living South Island takahē.
This flightless species is known from subfossils from a number of sites across North Island. The North Island takahē compared to the South island species was proportionally larger, but had a smaller premaxilla (and thus beak) relative to body size. Other differences from the South island species include the more elongate tarsometatarsus bones of the legs relative to the tibiotarsus.[4]
Traditionally the North Island takahē was considered conspecific with the endangered South Island takahē. Trewick (1996) suggested that the two taxa were independently derived from two separate colonisations by flying ancestors, so proved to be separate species.[4] However, this was challenged by the result of subsequent DNA analysis, which suggested that the two takahē species were each other's closest relatives and as such probably originated from a single colonisation of New Zealand, but were divergent enough from each other to warrant being considered distinct species, with the split estimated to have occurred 4 to 1.5 million years ago.[5]
| Porphyrio |
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The binomial of this bird commemorates the naturalist and civil servant Walter Mantell.
The North Island takahē became extinct sometime after Māori settlement of New Zealand around 1320 AD.
Some reports have suggested that the species may have persisted until the 19th century, but this is unconfirmed. One specimen may have been taken by surveyor in the Ruahine Range in 1894 or 1898, and was recognized as one of the rare moho by elders of Ngati Muaupoko at the time. Aramoho is said to derive from the name of this bird, as the meaning of ara mohoau is 'way of the Moho'.[6]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The North Island takahē (Māori: moho) (Porphyrio mantelli) is an extinct species of flightless swamphen that was native to the North Island of New Zealand. It is closely related to the living South Island takahē.
The South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, which it shares with the recently (14th century) extinct North Island takahē. The two takahē species are also known as notornis. Takahē were hunted extensively by both early European settlers and Māori, and takahē bones have been found in middens in the South Island. Fossil remains have also been found across the South Island. They were not named and described by Europeans until 1847, and then only from fossil bones. In 1850 a living bird was captured, and three more collected in the 19th century. After another bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct. Fifty years later, however, after a carefully planned search, South Island takahē were dramatically rediscovered in November 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains. The species is now managed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, whose Takahē Recovery Programme maintains populations on several offshore islands as well as Takahē Valley. Takahē has been reintroduced to numerous locations across the country. Although South Island takahē are still a threatened species, their NZTCS status was downgraded in 2016 from Nationally Critical to Nationally Vulnerable. As of 2023, the population is around 500 and is growing by 8 percent per year.
Tiritiri Matangi Island is located in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, 3.4 km (2.1 mi) east of the Whangaparāoa Peninsula in the North Island and 30 km (19 mi) north east of Auckland. The 2.2 km2 (1 sq mi) island is an open nature reserve managed by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and is noted for its bird life, including takahē, North Island kōkako and kiwi. It attracts between 30,000 and 32,000 visitors a year, the latter figure being the maximum allowed by the Auckland Conservation Management Strategy. The name, Māori for "tossed by the wind", is often popularly shortened to Tiritiri. Māori mythology considers the island to be a float of an ancestral fishing net.
The South Island (official alternative name Te Waipounamu, from Māori) is the larger of the two main islands of New Zealand by surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. With a population of 1,256,700 as of June 2025, the South Island is home to 24% of New Zealand's 5.3 million inhabitants. The most populous cities are Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Invercargill. The South Island is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south by Foveaux Strait and the Southern Ocean, and to the east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres (58,084 sq mi), making it the world's 12th-largest island, constituting 56% of New Zealand's land area. At low altitudes, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps, which run along the island from north to south. The Southern Alps include Aoraki / Mount Cook, at 3,724 metres (12,218 feet) New Zealand's highest peak. The Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains, while the West Coast and Fiordland on the west are renowned for their rough coastlines, native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Prior to European settlement, Te Waipounamu was sparsely populated by three major iwi – Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, and the historical Waitaha – with major settlements including in Kaiapoi Pā near modern-day Christchurch. During the Musket Wars expanding iwi colonised Te Tau Ihu, a region comprising parts of modern-day Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough, including Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne, Ngāti Tama, and later Ngāti Toarangatira after Te Rauparaha's wars of conquest. British settlement of the South Island began with expansive and cheap land purchases early on, and settlers quickly outnumbered Māori. As a result the Wairau Affray was the only conflict of the New Zealand Wars to occur in the South Island. Dunedin boomed during the 1860s Otago gold rush, which was shaped by extensive Chinese immigration. After the gold rushes in Otago and on the West Coast, the South Island held the majority of the European population and wealth. After the gold rushes the "drift to the north" meant the North Island displaced the South as the most populous. The North Island's population overtook the South Island's in the early 20th century, with 56% of the New Zealand population living in the North Island in 1911. The drift north of people and businesses continued throughout the twentieth century.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
