Don Merton
New Zealand scientist
Died when: 72 years 47 days (865 months)Star Sign: Pisces
Donald Vincent Merton QSM CF (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 kākāpō.When Merton began his work as a conservationist, kākāpō were believed to be extinct, but about 20 years into his career a small population was found in a semi-remote national park in mainland New Zealand.
However, it was several months before they finally found a female, and soon after they found the first female they discovered a surprise, well-fed chick a few weeks old.
Merton and his crew initially wanted to relocate all of the rediscovered kākāpō they found to Codfish Island, but the New Zealand Department of Conservation only gave permission to relocate 20.
Despite the limited relocation, the kākāpō population has steadily recovered (as of 2019 there are 147 mature adult kākāpō, and the 2019 season produced 181 eggs and 34 chicks so far, though not all are likely to survive due to problems with in breeding- lack of genetic diversity).
With technological advances in genome mapping tools like CRISPR, scientists have successfully mapped all of the 147 kākāpō 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 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.
