Last year we trialled smart eggs for #kakapo for the first time. Developed by the @docgovtnz electronics team and supported by @MeridianEnergy, these eggs make chick noises, to give the nesting mother a cue that a chick is on the way. #conservationtech #conservation 
We usually remove #kakapo eggs and incubate them artificially, putting a dummy in the nest. But we’ve found that the mother gets the chick back, she often doesn’t feed it well for the first few days. So we have to feed at the nest, which is difficult and risky. #conservationtech
We suspect it’s because the dummy egg is inert. Real eggs ‘pip’ a day or so before hatching - that’s the chick vocalising. We think the mother hears this and readies herself to feed the chick. #kakapo #conservationtech #conservation
So the ‘smart egg’ is designed to be put into the #kakapo nest a day or two before the chick hatches in the incubator. The noise the egg makes will give the mother a warning that a chick is on the way. #conservationtech #parrots #conservation
We don’t have quantitative results, but anecdotally we have evidence the smart eggs worked as planned last year. We’ll do more trials next breeding season. Thanks to @MeridianEnergy for funding this work. #kakapo #conservationtech #conservation
