Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

This week, the bird that defied extinction. In 1969, a Peruvian farmer Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century.

The American author and conservationist Michelle Nijhuis is this week's guest. She talks about some of the most interesting attempts in modern history to save animals on the brink of extinction.

Also this week, the world's first solar powered home, when Tanzania adopted Swahili and when the world went crazy for Cabbage Patch Kids.

This programme has been updated since its original broadcast. It was edited on 6 December 2023.

Contributors: Rafael Del Solar - son of conservationist Gustavo Del Solar Michelle Nijhuis - author and conservationist Meredith Ludwig - friend of Cabbage Patch Kids creator Martha Nelson Thomas Peter Baxter and George Kling - scientists Walter Bgoya - author in Tanzania Andrew Nemethy - lived in the world's first solar powered house

(Photo: A whooping crane. Credit: Getty Images)