Andrew Digby

Andrew Digby is a scientist working for Kākāpō Recovery; he is responsible for providing scientific advice to guide their conservation efforts. This involves reviewing research, organising data collection and designing field trials, and crunching the numbers with statistical analyses and modelling. The topics of kākāpō research are varied: from supplementary feeding to tree phenology, avian diseases to artificial insemination, and reproductive behaviour to genetics. Liaising with the many external experts who contribute to these areas is a key part of Andrew’s work. Andrew isn’t confined to a desk, and also loves the fieldwork involved in his job. “Collecting data and observing a species in the field is an important part of conservation research; it’s very hard to fully understand behaviour and appreciate the conservation issues without seeing them first-hand.” For Andrew, being a kākāpō scientist is the perfect job: “It’s every conservation biologist’s dream: the application of a wide variety of scientific fields and methods to make a real difference to the survival of an endangered species.”