birds live in alpine grassland, and eat tussocks mostly, and snow tussocks are their favorite. Nonetheless, in winter, the takahe change their living location to forested valleys, where they can find the rhizome of the fern. On the other hand, on islands, the food that the takahe feed on is a mixture of native and different types of introduced grasses (Crouchley, 1994, p. 6). The most important reason the birds need protecting is because they are endemic to New Zealand. Since the Maori and European