Gerald McCormack, CINHT
This post is the second in a 2-part blog about The Long-tailed Cuckoo (Karavia, Urodynamis taitensis) which winters in tropical Polynesia and migrates to New Zealand in October and November to breed by duping other birds to incubate its eggs and raise its young. Part 2 explores the birds polynesian names and the possibility it was linked to early navigation. Continue reading →
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
Did the Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) originate in the Americas? Was it in the Cook Islands when the first Polynesians arrived?
Palms, fruit, flowers and leave – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack
The first Western record of Coconut Palms was in 545AD by Cosmos, an Egyptian, who saw them in India and Sri Lanka. Other reports followed, and Marco Polo reported them in Indonesia in 1280. The Portuguese Vasco de Gama discovered the route around Africa to India in 1498. He did not find Coconut Palms on the Atlantic coast of Africa nor in southern Africa. His first record of ‘coquos’ was at Malindi in Kenya. On his way home he left coconuts at Cape Verde, the first in the Atlantic.
In the 1490s Columbus erroneously reported Coconut Palms in the Caribbean. It is now concluded that Diego Corenco, a former pastor of Cape Verde, introduced the first coconuts into the Caribbean to Puerto Rico in 1549. A recent re-evaluation of early Spanish records has concluded that coconuts were pre-Spanish on the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica, Panama and northern Colombia. The writers concluded that coconuts had reached America naturally by floating or they may have been carried by ancient voyagers. Continue reading →
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
Is it true that hermit-crabs develop into Coconut Crabs?
Juvenile and adult coconut crabs – Cook Islands – Gerald McCormack
The Coconut Crab (Birgus latro) is the world’s largest land-crab, often reaching 5kg. They take 7-12 years to reach sexual maturity, and can live more than 50 years. They are nocturnal omnivores, with a preference for coconut meat. Traditional names for large Coconut Crabs include: Unga, Unga Kaveu, Ūngākave‘u, Kaveu, Unga Koveu, and Unga Puku‘ara. Names for smaller ones include Toromimi and Unga ‘Onu.
Adult Coconut Crabs usually live within a few hundred metres of the shore, although they sometimes wander inland more than a kilometre. Years ago I met a large blue one on the summit of Mount ‘Ikurangi (485m elevation and about 2.5km from the shore).
Coconut Crabs are usually blue although some are dull orange-red. The colour is not related to age or sex.
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
Turtle tourism has become a popular year-round activity in Rarotonga, with both Government and civil society groups working to make it safer for turtles and people. The industry is built around “resident” Green and Hawksbill Turtles.
Green Turtle – Gerald McCormack
Recently, Te Ipukarea Society (CI News 22 Feb. 2025) reported 90 Green and 19 Hawksbills. They highlighted one Green Turtle seen in Avaavaroa Passage since 2021 as “a good example of a ‘residential turtle’ that is quite happy spending its days in Vaimaanga”. The following article will focus solely on Green Turtles, which have a distinct lifecycle compared to Hawksbill Turtles.
The presence of around 90 “residential” Green Turtles is a dramatic change from the 1980s and ’90s when such turtles were very rarely seen. What caused this dramatic change? Has there been a local population boom? Have these migratory turtles found a good home and stopped migrating? Can these “resident” turtles contribute to the survival of their endangered species?
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
Ten years ago, on 24th April 2007, Air Rarotonga flew 27 Kura (Rimatara Lorikeets, Vini kuhlii) on a direct flight from Rimatara to Ātiu, where the bird had been absent for 200 years.
Map showing route the Rimatara Lorikeets took to get to Ātiu and eventually Mitiaro
This was the first transboundary reintroduction of a bird in the Pacific and was reported by more than 130 major news outlets around the world. TVNZ showcased the event with Greg Parker’s “Spirit of the Queen” documentary, which is on YouTube at www.youtube.com/kokamedia.
In pre-historic times the Kura were found throughout the Southern Cooks and eastward to Rimatara and Rurutu in French Polynesia. It had been lost on all islands, except Rimatara, by the over-harvesting of its red feathers for personal adornment.
The purpose of the reintroduction project was to establish a second population to maintain the Kura within its former natural range in case it were devastated on Rimatara by an invasion of Ship Rat(Rattus rattus). The Natural Heritage Trust and MANU, the Ornithological Society of French Polynesia, took six years to negotiate approvals with government agencies and the Rimatara community, which gave the birds into the care of Rongomatane Ariki and the Ātiu community.
