You can meet Toru at the Sedgwick County Zoo. 

Erica Royer, an aviculturist with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, told KUAM, "He was actually hand-reared at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute back in 2014. And he was actually the first ko’ko’ I ever hand-reared. We do not typically hand rear ko’ko’ birds because most of them are slated for release but once in a while we do hand rear birds as education ambassadors like Toru is here. "

It’s a happy reunion for Erica Royer, who also worked on the Guam Sihek Recovery Program in Wichita, Kansas. The zoo is one of the places in the U.S. where you can see the ko’ko’ outside of the Marianas. 

"So the ko’ko’ is definitely a story of success thanks to a lot of different partners and definitely all of our partners in Guam. They’ve done a lot of work releasing the ko’ko’ on Rota and on Cocos island," Royer added."So this species was only the second bird species in history to go from extinct in the wild to critically endangered."

The ko’ko’ became extinct in the 1980s because of the brown tree snake. The last few birds were pulled from the wild to start a captive breeding program. Now the focus is on breeding birds for release on Rota. They’ve seen chicks in the wild -- a step closer to being self-sustaining. That story is highlighted at the zoo. 

Emma Kepp, the Zoological Manager for the Tropics at Sedgwick County Zoo, said, "So his exhibit is right next to the Sihek exhibit and also right next to the Marianas exhibits. So this whole wall we set aside to talk about this conservation program. So when you come down this path you are able to follow the story of each of these species and how they are doing in the wild and also what the conservation efforts are behind them."

It’s a promising development.

"So it is exciting to see the success that we’ve had in the ko’ko’ bird because it says great things about where we can go with the Sihek project," Royer said.