Isabel Castro

7.30 pm Tuesday, 15 April, Palmerston North Central Library, George Street, Palmerston North

Kiwi ancestors were the lucky ones to survive the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago, and today they remain the closest extant branch of the dinosaurs, or, if you wish, the lowest branch of birds. Their physiology, behaviour, and genetics continue to fascinate us. Isabel Castro and her team have been studying one of the kiwi species, the brown kiwi, for the last 21 years and in this talk, Isabel will present some of their extraordinary findings.

Originally from Colombia, South America, Isabel has lived in New Zealand for the last 35 years and during 21 of those has been researching kiwi biology. Isabel is a wildlife biologist with broad interests including animal behaviour, parasite-host interactions, anatomy, morphology, sensory biology, and conservation. Her research is on island species, particularly birds, but also introduced mammals and charismatic land snails. Isabel has a passion for solving conservation problems, making new biological findings, and working with technology.