Saving the world’s fattest parrot: can we vaccinate our rarest species before bird flu gets to them?

Trial in only continent untouched by avian flu suggests jabs will be key to survival as migration season approaches

It is easy to imagine how it could happen. A petrel, flying east from the Indian Ocean at the end of the Austral winter, makes landfall at New Zealand's southern Codfish Island/Whenua Hou. Tired from its long journey, the petrel seeks refuge in the burrow of a green kkp: a critically endangered flightless species that is the world's fattest parrot.

If the seabird intrudes when the kkp is primed to breed, the male parrot may attempt to mate with the smaller petrel, accidentally smothering it in the process.