KAKAPO PARROTS - Scientists celebrate Kakapo discovery

Great news from New Zealand, and the TVNZ site. "Scientists are celebrating after successfully testing a procedure that could play a major role in saving the world's most endangered parrot - New Zealand's Kakapo."

Sperm taken from a Kakapo at Codfish Island two weeks ago has survived its deep freeze in liquid nitrogen.

"We're getting somewhere between 60% and 70% on some of our samples which is pretty high," said research scientist Serean Adams.

There are now 86 living Kakapo but virtually all of them are related.

"There's quite a lot of in-breeding and that's leading to infertility and quite a lot of our birds are quite old now and we don't want to lose this genetic material before they die," said Department of Conservation spokesperson Daryl Eason.