SCIENCE LAB SPECIAL : HUNGER PANGS

 

TV contestants faces reality : This bird is not for dinner. Hunger was part of the challenge for contestants on the reality television show '' Race to Survive : New Zealand. "

As nine teams trekked, climbed and paddled their way through harsh terrain, they also had to forage and hunt for their own food.

New Zealand officials have now issued warnings to the show's producers, they said, after one contestant killed and ate a bird from a protected species during filming last October.

The weka, a flightless bird known for its bold curiosity, is endemic to New Zealand and is considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which evaluates threatened species.

They often roam around campsites and picnic areas and will sometimes steal crops, food and other small objects.

The show, which began airing its second season on USA Network in May, follows nine pairs of adventurers, survivalists and athletes as they navigate around New Zealand's South Island to compete for a $500,000 prize.

The team could use only what they could carry, and the slowest to reach each camp was eliminated. They were not given food but could take detours to find food caches left for them on the island.

Two contestants, Spencer Jones and Oliver Dev, were disqualified in the eighth episode. Producers appeared after they completed a leg and said that they had broken a rule.

''I made a mistake,'' Mr. Jones, who went by Corry, said in footage from the show. '' It was shortsighted, it was foolish.'' He had prepared for the racing but not for the hunger, he said.

Mr. Jones said that there had been '' creatures running around the camp that we're not allowed to eat, '' and that he had been in a '' mind-set of starvation mode.''

"I know it was breaking a rule,'' he said. '' What I did disrespected New Zealand, and I'm sorry.''

The World Students Society thanks Isabella Kwai.