Search - Rare Bird on DVD

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another!

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 05/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It was believed that the cakow, like the dodo bird, was extinct. This documentary says that some still live in Bermuda and this details one man's efforts to keep them alive.
Like pandas, cuteness is a factor here. Though the birds are not flightless, the chicks are cute and cuddly like baby penguins. Those who loved "Happy Feet" may enjoy watching this. I once heard that once a species has less than 50 members, you can't stop its extinction because inbreeding would be a problem. No one ever suggests this bird can't be saved despite myriad obstacles detailed here.
The bird is proven to be alive within 20 minutes of the documentary; proving its existence is not the point here. I love how this documents the practicality of smart people. The researcher learned that a larger bird was going into nests and killing cakow chicks, so the researcher made entrances that only cakows could use for their nests. If poisonous frogs could end up killing the birds, the researcher and others found the frogs and transported them to other islands. Still, this says the hurricanes destroy nests and hurricanes are increasing rapidly (take that, global warming deniers!). In short, though one man may save the birds, the follies of mankind are to blame for the bird's obstacles.
This work reminded me of so much. First, this researcher seemed to be a male Jane Goodall. A teenaged boy dedicated himself to finding the bird just as a young boy helped to decipher Mayan hieroglyphs. My fifth grade teacher read us a book about a fish that most Western experts thought was extinct which was actually still alive. The efforts here may remind some of trying to save manatees, pandas, rhinos, and many other animals.
This would be a cute thing to watch on a slow day in a junior high or high school biology class."