A kākāpō called Arab has been euthanised after he suffered complications from surgery to treat an eye injury at Auckland Zoo.
The bird, which was found on Rakiura/Stewart Island in April 1980 by a Department of Conservation (DOC) staffer nicknamed Arab, was believed to be among New Zealand's oldest.
His eye injury is understood to have been inflicted during a fight with another kākāpō.
DOC kākāpō expert Dr Andrew Digby said, from Arab's condition, it was likely that he was much older than 40, and he had many battle scars.
"He was quite a character," Dr Digby said, adding that he was "very vocal, and good at quickly climbing trees.
"He was battle-scarred, blind in one eye from an old fight injury.
"He would usually hang out close to his feed station, so he didn't have to walk far to get food."
Arab had only reproduced once during the 2016 breeding season, producing three chicks, two of which survive - Hera (female) and Egilsay (male).
Dr Digby said the death was a blow to the kākāpō programme.
"It is a blow, because he's had so few offspring, so isn’t well represented genetically," he said.
"We want to make sure all of the founder birds produce plenty of chicks, however, the programme as a whole is doing very well, particularly this year: there are currently 77 chicks alive, from only 147 adults at the start of the year."
Female kakapo Hoki - the first hand-reared kākāpō - was found dead earlier this year after suffering a fungal infection, and following Arab's death, there are now just 145 adults left.
Dr Digby said members of public who want to support the kākāpō breeding and conservation programme can make a donation to the programme, or sign up to adopt a kākāpō .
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