The endangered orange-bellied parrot has lost 62 per cent of its genetic diversity and can only be saved by breeding with another species or editing its genes, a study suggests.

The endangered orange-bellied parrot has lost 62 per cent of its genetic diversity and can only be saved by breeding with another species or editing its genes, a study suggests.

But the former zookeeper says the same principle applies to many of the parrots Huntbatch rescued. "These birds — many of them live 60 or 80 years or more," he says.

A new study suggests the orange-bellied parrot -- which migrate between Tasmania and Victoria -- has lost 62 per cent of its genetic diversity in the past 200 years.