Po'ouli

The November 2004 death of a male po'ouli may have marked the extinction of a species. The po'ouli Melamprosops phaesoma is a member of the Hawaiian honeycreepers, an avian family that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Although two other individuals of this species may still be present in the wild, they have not been observed for many months.

One po'ouli was brought in in September 2004 in hopes of establishig a captive-breeding group, if the other two birds could be located and similarly brought in. One of the first concerns was to conclusively determine the sex of the bird. During the health exam, the opportunity existed for a small amount of blood to be set aside for sexing. Two genetics labs, one in Hawaii and the other in the CRES Genetics Division, received a blood sample and were able to determine conclusively that the bird was a male. DNA from this effort was banked as part of the Frozen Zoo collection.

When the po'ouli later died, the Genetics Division collected postmorten tissue samples to bank in our genetic resource collections. Biopsies were collected from a number of tissues in an attempt to establish and freeze living cells. Avian tissue culture can be particularly difficult, especially when working with samples from an older individual. Nonetheless, cells were successfully frozen and banked in the Frozen Zoo collection. A karyotype generated from these living cells provided the first insight into the cytogenetic characteristics of this species.

More

Hawaiian Endangered Bird Conservation Program
Po`ouli Brought To Breeding Center in "Last Ditch" Effort to Save Species
Po‘ouli Death Leaves Species' Future Uncertain
Po'ouli Cells Added to Frozen Zoo
Read Zoo Blogs from Alan Lieberman, program director for the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program