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Story: European discovery of plants and animals

Tethered takahē

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Tethered takahē

This male and female takahē were photographed by Geoffrey Orbell, an Invercargill doctor, in 1948. The species had been thought extinct until he rediscovered a population living in the Murchison Mountains, on the western shores of Lake Te Anau. He tethered this pair to sticks so that they could not escape.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP-Zoology-Birds, Takahe-01

by Geoffrey Buckland Orbell

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

John Andrews, European discovery of plants and animals – New directions: 1890s–today, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10970/tethered-takahe (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by John Andrews, published 1 March 2009.