Getting to Rapa Nui today involves 5 hours of flying at almost 1000 kilometers (600 miles) per hour. Have you ever wondered, how then did the little creatures which inhabit Rapa Nui get there? How could the Manu Puhi, that little gray bird which sings for its people? Have you realized that you share this space with them every day? This little bird is the diuca finch, known on the Island as the whistling bird.

As a result of its extreme isolation, the animal life of Rapa Nui has little diversity, unlike most of the other Polynesian islands. By natural processes of migration, some species of marine birds, marine mammals and the small insects, like the dragonfly of the species Pantala flavescens (locally called Pepeka) arrived.

As part of a program for Master of Biological Sciences of the University of Chile, in an alliance with the Millennium Nucleus for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands – ESMOI, we have concentrated our study in the Manu Puhi, considering all the aspects mentioned and noting that there are some differences, both in coloring and in size, from the diuca finch on the continent. The objective of this study is to determine the differences in morphology and genetics in the population of diuca finch which has established on the Island, considering that these birds are isolated, geographically and reproductively, from their point of origin on the continent. This isolation could lead to genetic differentiation between the two groups. To carry out the study, we’ve had to do field research on the Island. Registries have been made of morphological characteristics, such as length of wing and of tail and form of face, among several aspects. Blood samples were drawn for later genetic analysis in the laboratories of Ecology and Genetics of the University of Chile.