FADING queen

Far away in French Polynesia, a little songbird is clinging on to survival. Can the Fatu Hiva monarch beat the odds?

- Liv Grant

Echoing across a valley on the island of Fatu Hiva in the South Pacific Ocean is a sound heard nowhere else on Earth. Few have ventured into this narrow gorge of yellow blooming hibiscus and razor-leaved pandanus, for the only pathways are those forged by wild pigs. Anyone foolhardy enough to follow these trails must come armed with a machete and a willingness to scramble over sharp, slippery boulders.

Scientist Caroline Blanvillain describes the unusual cry heard here as “So powerful you believe the dinosaurs are coming”. Others liken this peculiar noise to the squeals of a dying cat. It emanates not from some mythical creature but from an insectivorous songbird called the Fatu Hiva monarch. At the time of writing, there are precisely 17 individuals left, making this little bird one of the most endangered animals in the world.

Fatu Hiva is the most southerly of the Marquesas Islands, an archipelago in north-eastern French Polynesia. There is no airstrip on Fatu Hiva and it can only be reached by boat. When drawn on a map, it is often depicted as a mere dot, and at only 15km long, it is indeed of miniature proportions. However, to visit Fatu Hiva is to witness the grandeur of a volcanic eruption frozen in time; a crest of mountains forms the spine of the island, from which ridges and ravines descend into the ocean. The island emerged from the sea so recently (a few million years is, of course, recent in geological timeframes) that its shores have not yet softened to sandy beaches; instead, black basalt columns rise like battlements, sheltering the rich green interior of the island from the vagaries of the waves.

Looks deceive