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The kakapo (night parrot) is one of New Zealand’s unique ‘treasures’ and with only 86 known surviving birds it is listed internationally as a critically endangered species.

Large, flightless and nocturnal, the kakapo is an eccentric parrot which can live for decades. It is not closely related to other parrots and, in fact, has a combination of biological features not shared by any other species. It is the only representative of a unique sub-family, Strigops habroptilus, and the softness of its plumage is represented in the second part of that scientific name. With mottled moss-green feathers, camouflage is the bird’s main form of defence.

Facts about kakapo:

  • It is the heaviest parrot in the world. Males can weigh over two kilograms. Unique among land birds, it can store large amounts of energy as body fat.
  • It is the only parrot to have a 'lek' mating system: males compete for 'calling posts' specially dug-out bowls in the earth and call ("boom") each night in summer months for a female. The male’s low-frequency mating boom travels over several kilometres. It is the only parrot to have an inflatable thoracic air sac.
  • Kakapo breed every three to four years.
  • A bird can range several kilometres in one night.
  • Although it cannot fly, it is good at climbing trees.
  • The birds are herbivores and eat variety of foods such as roots, leaves and fruit
  • Kakapo once ranged from near sea level to high in the mountains.
  • Possibly as defence against its ancient predator - the giant eagle - the kakapo became nocturnal and learned to remain still ('freeze') at times of danger.

By the 1970s, only a few isolated birds were known to exist in Fiordland, South Island. A survey of Stewart Island in 1977 found about 200 more birds but they were rapidly declining through predation by feral cats. Following translocations of all the remaining kakapo, they are now managed by the Department of Conservation on two offshore islands: Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) near Stewart Island, and Anchor Island in Fiordland.

Watch a video

Video about Sirocco the kakapo

(From the Department of Conservation:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=32854 )