On Niuafo'ou the small human population and remoteness of its habitat probably saved the species.

On islands in former parts of its range without volcanoes it presumably created mounds of rotting vegetation and laid the eggs there.

[5] The Tongan megapode is principally threatened by the same factors that caused its decline in the rest of Polynesia.

Its eggs are still harvested by local people in spite of theoretical government protection, and some hunting still occurs.

[5] Because of the vulnerability of the single population an attempt was made to translocate eggs of this species to new islands, Late and Fonualei.