Don Merton, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetDon Merton
New Zealand scientist
Date of Birth: 22-Feb-1939
Place of Birth: Auckland, New Zealand
Date of Death: 10-Apr-2011
Profession: ornithologist
Nationality: New Zealand
Zodiac Sign: Pisces 
About Don Merton
- Donald Vincent Merton (22 February 1939 – 10 April 2011) was a New Zealand conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction.
- He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kakapo.When Don Merton began his work, as a conservationist Kakapo were believed to be extinct, but about 20 years into his career a small population of Kakapo were found on a semi-remote national park in mainland New Zealand, however, it was several months before they finally found a female, and soon after they had discovered a surprise, a female with a well feed chick a few weeks old.
- Don and his crew wanted to relocate all of the rediscovered Kakapo to off shore Codfish island, however the New Zealand's Department of Conservation only gave him permission to relocate 20.
- Fortunately though, despite this the Kakapo population has steadily recovered (as of 2019 there are 147 mature adult Kakapo, and the 2019 season has produced 181 eggs and 34 chicks so far, but not all are likely to survive due to problems with in breeding- lack of genetic diversity.) But thanks to technological advances in GENOME Mapping tools like CRISPR, scientists have successfully mapped all of the 147 Kakapos' genomes, and in the near future it may be possible to edit the Genomes of an egg to allow for a higher survival rate among newly hatched chicks. Until his retirement in April 2005, Merton was a senior member of the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Threatened Species Section, within the Research, Development & Improvement Division, Terrestrial Conservation Unit, and of the Kakapo Management Group.
- He has had a long involvement in wildlife conservation, specialized in the management of endangered species since he completed a traineeship with the New Zealand Wildlife Service (NZWS) in 1960.
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