HLM -Chapter 1243 The Panda Among Birds

After hearing his words, Motak blinked, then suddenly ran forward, spreading his arms and shouting, “Zhuang Ding, come back! Zhuang Ding, stop biting!”

Wang Bo asked, “What’s wrong? Wouldn’t it be good to let it catch these purple swamphens?”

Purple swamphens were quite pretty, but Sunset Town was already a bit overrun with chickens. They had virtually no natural predators here, and with abundant food, their population had been expanding rapidly.

Motak turned back with a wry smile. “Boss, these aren’t purple swamphens. These are takahē!”

Wang Bo froze. “Takahē? No way. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Motak said firmly, “Absolutely not, boss. These are definitely takahē. The big purple ones are the males, and the brown ones are the females—damn it, Zhuang Ding, don’t charge straight in, come back!”

Wang Bo hurriedly shouted as well, “Zhuang Ding, come back!”

Hearing him, Zhuang Ding, who was just about to catch up to a purple male, slammed on the brakes, then wagged its tail and ran back.

The purple male narrowly escaped death. Flapping its small wings, it quickly darted into the green cornfield. Instead of fleeing farther, it poked its little red head back out and warily eyed Zhuang Ding’s direction.

As everyone knows, New Zealand’s national bird is the kiwi, a national treasure. There are only a few thousand of them left in the country, a number comparable to that of the giant panda in China—extremely precious.

But in reality, New Zealand has an even rarer bird: the takahē.

The takahē was once declared “extinct” in 1898. It wasn’t until November 20, 1948, that it was rediscovered near Lake Te Anau on New Zealand’s South Island.

Wang Bo had read about the takahē and knew how precious this wild bird was, which was why he had called Zhuang Ding off when it was about to attack.

If Zhuang Ding had actually bitten a takahē to death, he would have been in serious trouble. This was a bird even rarer than the kiwi—there were fewer than three hundred left in all of New Zealand!

Those three hundred had only been brought back through decades of unwavering protection by the New Zealand government. To help the population grow, the government had specifically designated nearly 50,000 hectares of protected land.

To be honest, even now, Wang Bo still found it hard to believe that what he was seeing were takahē rather than the overabundant purple swamphens around town.

From a distance, both purple swamphens and takahē wear bluish-purple feathers mixed with black, and both have red coloring on their heads. From afar, most people can’t tell them apart.

He asked Motak, who gestured as he explained, “They’re actually easy to distinguish. Look at these guys—they’re so fat. Purple swamphens don’t get this chunky.”

Wang Bo said, “Couldn’t they just be purple swamphens that got fat from eating too well?”

Motak was taken aback. “Boss, your way of thinking is really… fresh. How did you even come up with that? But there are other differences too. Look carefully—don’t you think their feather colors are much richer?”

Takahē feathers are more vivid than those of purple swamphens. Also, purple swamphens can fly, and they’re actually fairly good at it, while a takahē’s wings are basically just for show—it can’t fly at all.

As if to prove its identity, the chubby male that had been chased earlier saw that Zhuang Ding was now far away. For some reason, it foolishly ran back out.

That alone would have been one thing, but it stretched its neck toward Zhuang Ding and started calling loudly, flapping its little wings hard as it did so.

Now Wang Bo was certain: it really was a takahē, not a purple swamphen, because purple swamphens don’t have wings this small.

Compared to its body length of over half a meter, wings barely more than ten centimeters long were ridiculously tiny. No wonder it couldn’t fly—wings that small and a body that heavy… unless you strapped a propeller on it, there was no way it was getting airborne.

Motak laughed. “This takahē is angry. They flap their wings either to show affection or to intimidate enemies. Obviously, it’s trying to scare Zhuang Ding.”

Zhuang Ding wasn’t a good-tempered, obedient child. Once provoked, it instantly flew into a rage and gave chase.

The takahē was startled and, flapping its wings frantically, hurriedly dove back into the green cornfield. Several others that had been poking their heads out to watch the excitement also fled.

Still, these guys were very greedy. One of them even jumped up and grabbed a white cherry in its beak before running off.

Motak laughed. “Clearly, the thieves are these takahē. That explains everything—they absolutely love white cherries. They were probably attracted here by this cherry orchard.”

Takahē are generally solitary or live in small groups. They are omnivorous wild birds, feeding mainly on berries, especially fond of blueberries and cherries, though they also eat some snails or aquatic insects.

White cherries, with their unique taste, aren’t just loved by humans—many berry-eating animals and birds are especially fond of them as well.

After discovering the takahē, Wang Bo didn’t even bother going to work. He immediately summoned a group of his capable subordinates. He needed to capture these takahē and move them somewhere safe.

Takahē are relatively large birds. In a natural state, they are hardy and can live for more than twenty years, which is quite long-lived among birds.

Yet their population has never been able to expand, mainly due to their low reproductive capacity.

They are usually solitary. While this allows them to grow to about 60 centimeters in length, weigh around 3 kilograms, and develop very robust bodies, they are still unable to fend off predators when encountered.

After all, their predators—whether stoats or possums—tend to live in groups.

Moreover, their eggs are especially attractive to these predators, likely because the eggs are quite large; a single egg is enough to fill a rat for an entire meal.

Wang Bo couldn’t allow them to live in the green cornfield. There were many possums and the like in this area. Although a controlled burn and rodent-clearing operation had been carried out when the farm was first established, over the course of a year, rodents had once again spread to many corners of the place.

He planned to move these takahē to be raised near the lakeshore. Lake Hawea was home to many rare birds, had lots of visitors, and far fewer rodents, which would help their survival.

Moreover, the takahē’s natural habitat is marshland or lakeshore terrain. Their legs are thin and long, with leg length accounting for more than half of their height, making them perfectly suited to such environments.

The takahē also has another impressive trait: although it doesn’t have webbed feet, it is excellent at swimming and can even dive, making lakeside living ideal for it.

Of course, this would be good for Wang Bo as well. In New Zealand, the takahē is comparable to the giant panda in China. Having a group of takahē would be like adding another tourist attraction, one that would surely draw many visitors.

As for the white cherries that had attracted these takahē in the first place, that wasn’t a problem. He could arrange for people to feed them white cherries every day.

Besides, the white cherry harvest season had arrived, and they would soon all be picked. If the birds stayed here, they would quickly run short of food.

Wang Bo was also worried that the takahē might be harmed during the cherry harvest. If one or two were accidentally stepped on and killed, that would truly be a grave sin.