Takahē

The takahē, Notornis, or South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the rail family. It was thought to be extinct after the last four known specimens were taken in 1898. However, after a carefully planned search effort the bird was rediscovered by Geoffrey Orbell near Lake Te Anau in the Murchison Mountains, South Island, on 20 November 1948. The specific scientific name commemorates the Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter.

Taxonomy and systematics

A related species, the North Island takahē (P. mantelli) or mōho is extinct and only known from skeletal remains. Both forms were long assumed to be subspecies of mantelli, and were usually placed in the genus Notornis. However, it has been determined that the differences between Porphyrio and Notornis were insufficient for separating the latter, whereas the differences between the North and South Island forms justified the splitting into two species, as each evolved independently towards flightlessness.

Mount Takahe

Mount Takahe is a large, snow-covered shield volcano standing 64 km SE of Toney Mountain in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It is roughly circular, about 29 km across, and has a caldera up to 8 km wide. At 780 cubic km, it is a massive volcano. The volcano may have last erupted during the Holocene, and thus it is probably a potentially active volcano.

Takahe was probably among those viewed from a distance by Admiral Byrd and other members of the USAS in plane flights from the ship Bear on Feb. 24 and 25, 1940. It was visited in December 1957 by members of the Marie Byrd Land Traverse Party, 1957–58, who applied the name. "Takahe," the Māori name for a flightless, almost extinct New Zealand bird, is the nickname of the U.S. Navy LC-47 aircraft whose crew resupplied the traverse party near this mountain and assisted by providing aerial reconnaissance to locate passable routes.

Gill Bluff

Gill Bluff (76°14′S 112°33′W / 76.233°S 112.550°W / -76.233; -112.550) is a rock bluff on the northwest side of Mount Takahe, in Marie Byrd Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–66. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Allan Gill, aurora researcher at Byrd Station in 1963.