Kakapo
Encyclopedia
The Kakapo Strigops habroptila (Gray
, 1845), also called owl parrot, is a species
of large, flightless
nocturnal
parrot
endemic
to New Zealand
. It has finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc of sensory, vibrissa-like feathers, a large grey beak
, short legs, large feet, and wings and a tail of relatively short length. A certain combination of traits makes it unique among its kind—it is the world's only flightless parrot, the heaviest parrot, nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic
in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate
, no male parental care, and is the only parrot to have a polygynous
lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds. Its anatomy typifies the tendency of bird evolution on oceanic islands, with few predators and abundant food: a generally robust physique, with accretion of thermodynamic
efficiency at the expense of flight abilities, reduced wing muscles, and a diminished keel
on the sternum
.
The Kakapo is critically endangered; as of June 2011, only living individuals are known, most of which have been given names. The common ancestor of the Kakapo and the genus Nestor
became isolated from the remaining parrot species when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana
, around 82 million years ago. Around 70 million years ago, the kakapo diverged from the genus Nestor. In the absence of mammal
ian predators, it lost the ability to fly. Because of Polynesian and European colonisation and the introduction of predators such as cat
s, rat
s, ferret
s, and stoat
s, the Kakapo was almost wiped out. Conservation efforts began in the 1890s, but they were not very successful until the implementation of the Kakapo Recovery Plan in the 1980s. As of January 2009, surviving Kakapo are kept on two predator-free islands, Codfish (Whenua Hou)
and Anchor
islands, where they are closely monitored. Two large Fiordland islands, Resolution
and Secretary
, have been the subject of large-scale ecological restoration
activities to prepare self-sustaining ecosystem
s with suitable habitat for the Kakapo.
The conservation of the Kakapo has made the species well known. Many books and documentaries detailing the plight of the Kakapo have been produced in recent years, one of the earliest being Two in the Bush, made by Gerald Durrell
for the BBC
in 1962. A feature length documentary, The Unnatural History of the Kakapo won two major awards at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. Two of the most significant documentaries, both made by NHNZ, are Kakapo - Night Parrot (1982) and To Save the Kakapo (1997). The BBC
's Natural History Unit also featured the Kakapo, including a sequence with Sir David Attenborough
in The Life of Birds
. It was also one of the endangered animals that Douglas Adams
and Mark Carwardine
set out to find for the radio series and book Last Chance to See
. An updated version of the series has been produced for BBC TV, in which Stephen Fry
and Carwardine revisit the animals to see how they are getting on almost 20 years later, and in January 2009, they spent time filming the Kakapo on Codfish Island. Footage of a kakapo named Sirocco
attempting to mate with Cawardine's head was viewed by millions worldwide, leading to Sirocco becoming "spokesbird" for New Zealand wildlife conservation in 2010, as part of the International Year of Biodiversity. The kakapo was featured in the documentary series South Pacific (renamed Wild Pacific) episode Strange Evolutions, originally aired on June 13, 2009.
The Kakapo, like many other New Zealand bird species, was historically important to the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, appearing in many of their traditional legends and folklore. It was also hunted and used as a resource by Māori, both for its meat as a food source and for its feathers, which were used to make highly valued pieces of clothing.
in 1845. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek
strix, genitive strigos "owl", and ops "face", while its specific epithet comes from habros "soft", and ptilon "feather". It has so many unusual features that it was initially placed in its own tribe
, Strigopini. Recent phylogenetic studies have confirmed the unique position of this genus as well as the closeness to the Kākā
and the Kea
, both belonging to the New Zealand parrot genus Nestor. Together, they are now considered a separate family within the parrots, Strigopidae. Within the Strigopidae, the Kakapo is placed in its own tribe
, Strigopini. Earlier ornithologists felt that the Kakapo may be related to the ground parrot
s and Night Parrot
of Australia due to their similar coloration, but this is contradicted by recent studies; rather, the cryptic
color seems to be adaptation
to terrestrial habits that evolved twice convergently
.
The name "Kakapo" is derived from the Māori
terms kākā ("parrot") + pō ("night"). The Polynesian
term kākā and its variant ʻāʻā were the generic South Pacific terms for Psittacidae. For example, the native names of the Kākā
, the extinct Black-fronted Parakeet
(Cyanoramphus zealandicus) of Tahiti
, and the New Zealand members of the genus
Cyanoramphus
are also derived from them.
The Kakapo is a large, rotund parrot; the male measures up to 60 centimetres (24 in) and weighs between 2 and 4 kilograms (4.5–9 lb) at maturity. The Kakapo cannot fly, having short wing
s for its size and lacking the pronounced keel bone (sternum
) that anchors the flight muscles of other birds. It uses its wings for balance, support, and to break its fall when leaping from trees. Unlike other land birds, the Kakapo can accumulate large amounts of body fat
to store energy, making it the heaviest parrot.
The upper parts of the Kakapo have yellowish moss-green feather
s barred or mottled with black or dark brownish grey, blending well with native vegetation
.
Individuals may have strongly varying degrees of mottling and colour tone and intensity — museum specimens show that some birds had completely yellow colouring. The breast and flank are yellowish-green streaked with yellow. The belly, undertail, neck and face are predominantly yellowish, streaked with pale green and weakly mottled with brownish-grey. Because the feathers do not need the strength and stiffness required for flight, they are exceptionally soft, giving rise to the specific epithet habroptilus. The Kakapo has a conspicuous facial disc of fine feathers, resembling the face of an owl
; thus, early European settlers called it the "owl parrot". The beak is surrounded by delicate vibrissae or "whiskers", which the bird uses to sense the ground for navigation as it walks with its head lowered. The mandible is mostly ivory-coloured, with part of the upper mandible being bluish-grey. The eyes are dark brown. Kakapo feet are large, scaly, and, as in all parrots, zygodactyl
(two toes face forward and two backward). The pronounced claws are particularly useful for climbing. The ends of the tail feathers often become worn from being continually dragged on the ground.
The female is easily distinguished from the male: she has a more narrow and less domed head, her beak is narrower and proportionally longer, her cere and nostrils smaller, her legs and feet more slender and pinkish grey, and her tail proportionally longer. While her plumage colour is not very different to that of male, the toning is more subtle, with less yellow and mottling. She tends to resist more and be more aggressive than the male when handled. A nesting female also has a brood patch
on the bare skin of the belly.
Like many parrots, the Kakapo has a variety of calls. As well as the booms (see below for a recording) and chings of their mating calls, it will often skraark to announce its location to other birds.
The Kakapo has a well-developed sense of smell, which complements its nocturnal lifestyle. It can discriminate among odours while foraging; a behaviour reported for only one other parrot species. One of the most striking characteristics of the Kakapo is its pleasant and powerful odour, which has been described as musty. Given the Kakapo's well-developed sense of smell
, this scent may be a social chemosignal. The smell often alerts predators to the largely defenseless Kakapo.
is not fused, but consists of a pair of clavicles lying in contact with each coracoid. As in other flightless birds, the angle between the coracoid and sternum is enlarged. The Kakapo has a larger pelvis than other parrots. The proximal bones of the leg and arm are disproportionately long and the distal elements are disproportionately short.
The pectoral
musculature of the Kakapo is also modified by flightlessness. The pectoralis
and supracoracoideus muscles are greatly reduced. The propatagialis tendo longus has no distinct muscle belly. The sternocoracoideus is tendinous. There is an extensive cucularis capitis clavicularis muscle that is associated with the large crop.
It seems that the Kakapo — like many of New Zealand's bird species — has evolved
to occupy an ecological niche
normally filled by various species of mammal (the only non-marine mammals native to New Zealand are three species of small bat
s). Before the arrival of humans, the Kakapo was distributed throughout the three main islands of New Zealand. It lived in a variety of habitats, including tussocklands, scrublands and coastal areas. It also inhabited forests, including those dominated by podocarps
(rimu
, matai
, kahikatea
, totara
), beeches
, tawa
, and rata
. In Fiordland
, areas of avalanche and slip debris with regenerating and heavily fruiting vegetation — such as five finger, wineberry, bush lawyer
, tutu
, hebes
, and coprosma
s — became known as "Kakapo gardens".
The Kakapo is primarily nocturnal; it roosts under cover in trees or on the ground during the day and moves around its territories at night.
Though the Kakapo cannot fly, it is an excellent climber, ascending to the crowns of the tallest trees. It can also "parachute" - descending by leaping and spreading its wings. In this way it may travel a few metres at an angle of less than 45 degrees.
Having lost the ability to fly, it has developed strong legs. Movement is often by way of a rapid "jog-like" gait by which it can move many kilometres. A female has been observed making two return trips each night during nesting from her nest to a food source up to 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) away and the male may walk from its home range to a mating arena up to 5 km (3.1 mi) away during the mating season (October–January).
Young birds indulge in play fighting and one bird will often lock the neck of another under its chin. The Kakapo is curious by nature and has been known to interact with humans. Conservation staff and volunteers have engaged extensively with some Kakapo, which have distinct personalities.
The Kakapo was a very successful species in pre-human New Zealand and one of the reasons for this was their set of adaptations to effectively avoid predation from native birds of prey, which were their only predators in the past. However, these same behaviours have been of no use to them when faced with the mammalian predators which were introduced to New Zealand after human settlement, because these hunt in different ways. As hunters, birds behave very differently to mammals, relying on their powerful vision to find prey and thus, they usually, (with the exception of owl
s) hunt by day. Apart from the two surviving New Zealand raptors
, the New Zealand Falcon and Swamp Harrier
, there were two other birds of prey in pre-human New Zealand: Haast's Eagle
and Eyles' Harrier
. All four species soared overhead searching for prey in daylight and to avoid these avian predators, the Kakapo's ancestors adopted camouflaged plumage and became nocturnal. In addition, when the Kakapo feels threatened, it freezes, so that it is more effectively camouflaged in the forest vegetation which their plumage resembles. It was not entirely safe at night when the Laughing Owl
was active and it is apparent from their nest deposits on Canterbury limestone cliffs that the Kakapo was among their prey.
Mammalian predators, in contrast to birds, rely on their sense of smell and hearing to find prey and often hunt by night. The Kakapo's adaptations to avoid avian predation have thus been useless against its new enemies - this is one of the reasons for its massive decline since the introduction of dogs, cats and mustelids
- see Conservation: Human impact. A typical way for humans to hunt down the Kakapo is by releasing trained dogs.
compared to other birds of their size. It is generally herbivorous
, eating native plant
s, seed
s, fruit
s, pollen
s and even the sapwood of trees. A study in 1984 identified 25 plant species as Kakapo food. It is particularly fond of the fruit of the rimu
tree, and will feed on it exclusively during seasons when it is abundant. The Kakapo has a distinctive habit of grabbing a leaf or frond with a foot and stripping the nutritious parts of the plant out with its beak, leaving a ball of indigestible fiber. These little clumps of plant fibres are a distinctive sign of the presence of the bird. The Kakapo is believed to employ bacteria in the foregut to ferment and help digest plant matter.
Kakapo diet changes according to the season. The plants eaten most frequently during the year include some species of Lycopodium ramulosum, Lycopodium fastigium, Schizaea fistulosa, Blechnum minus, Blechnum procerum, Cyathodes juniperina, Dracophyllum longifolium, Olearia colensoi and Thelymitra venosa. Individual plants of the same species are often treated differently. The Kakapo leaves conspicuous evidence of their feeding activities, from 10×10 m to 50×100 m feeding ground areas. Manuka
and yellow silver pine scrubs are obvious signs of its centre of feeding activities.
The Kakapo is the only species of flightless parrot in the world, and the only flightless bird that has a lek breeding system. Males loosely gather in an arena and compete with each other to attract females. Females listen to the males as they display, or "lek". They choose a mate based on the quality of his display; they are not pursued by the males in any overt way. No pair bond is formed; males and females meet only to mate.
During the courting season, males leave their home ranges for hilltops and ridge
s where they establish their own mating courts. These leks can be up to 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from a Kakapo's usual territory and are an average of 50 metres (160 ft) apart within the lek arena. Males remain in the region of their court throughout the courting season. At the start of the breeding season, males will fight to try to secure the best courts. They confront each other with raised feathers, spread wings, open beaks, raised claws and loud screeching and growling. Fighting may leave birds with injuries or even kill them.
Each court consists of one or more saucer-shaped depressions or "bowls" dug in the ground by the male, up to 10 centimetres (4 in) deep and long enough to fit the half-metre length of the bird. The Kakapo is one of only a handful of birds in the world which actually constructs its leks. Bowls are often created next to rock faces, banks, or tree trunks to help reflect sound - the bowls themselves function as amplifiers to enhance the projection of the males booming mating calls. Each male’s bowls are connected by a network of trail
s or tracks which may extend 50 metres (160 ft) along a ridge or 20 metres (60 ft) in diameter around a hilltop. Males meticulously clear their bowls and tracks of debris. One way researchers check whether bowls are visited at night is to place a few twigs in the bowl; if the male visits overnight, he will pick them up in his beak and toss them away.
To attract females, males make loud, low-frequency (below 100 Hz
) booming calls from their bowls by inflating a thoracic
sac. They start with low grunts, which increase in volume as the sac inflates. After a sequence of about 20 loud booms, the male Kakapo emits a high frequency, metallic "ching" sound. He stands for a short while before again lowering his head, inflating his chest and starting another sequence of booms. The booms can be heard at least one kilometre (0.6 mi) away on a still night; wind can carry the sound at least five kilometres (3 mi). Males boom for an average of eight hours a night; each male may produce thousands of booms in this time. This may continue every night for three or four months during which time the male may lose half his body weight. Each male moves around the bowls in his court so that the booms are sent out in different directions. These booms are also notorious for attracting predators, because of the long range at which they can be heard.
Females are attracted by the booms of the competing males; they too may need to walk several kilometres from their territories to the arena. Once a female enters the court of one of the males, the male performs a display in which he rocks from side to side and makes clicking noises with his beak. He turns his back to the female, spreads his wings in display and walks backwards towards her. The duration of attempted copulation is between 2 to 14 minutes. Once the birds have mated, the female returns to her home territory to lay eggs and raise the chicks. The male continues booming in the hope of attracting another female.
The female Kakapo lays up to three eggs
per breeding cycle. She nests on the ground under the cover of plants or in cavities such as hollow tree trunks. The female incubates the eggs faithfully, but is forced to leave them every night in search of food. Predators are known to eat the eggs and the embryos inside can also die of cold in the mother's absence. Kakapo eggs usually hatch within 30 days, bearing fluffy gray chicks that are quite helpless. After the eggs hatch, the female feeds the chicks for three months, and the chicks continue to remain with the female for some months after fledging
. The young chicks are just as vulnerable to predators as the eggs, and young have been killed by many of the same predators that attack adults. Chicks leave the nest at approximately 10 to 12 weeks of age. As they gain greater independence, their mothers may feed the chicks sporadically for up to 6 months.
Because the Kakapo is long-lived, with an average life expectancy of 95 years and the maximum at about 120 years, it tends to have an adolescence before it starts breeding. Males do not start to boom until about 5 years of age. It was thought that females reach sexual maturity
at 9 years of age; but this idea was debunked in the 2008 breeding season when two 6-year-old females named Apirama and Rakiura laid eggs. Generally females do not seek out males until they are between 9 and 11-years-old. The Kakapo does not breed every year and has one of the lowest rates of reproduction among birds. Breeding occurs only in years when trees mast (fruit heavily), providing a plentiful food supply. Rimu
mast occurs only every three to five years, so in rimu-dominant forests such as those on Codfish Island, Kakapo breeding occurs as infrequently.
Another interesting aspect of the Kakapo's breeding system is that a female can alter the sex ratio of her offspring depending on her condition. A female that eats protein-rich foods produces more male offspring (males have 3%–40% more body weight than females). Females produce offspring biased toward the dispersive sex when competition for resources (such as food) is high and toward the non-dispersive sex when food is plentiful. A female Kakapo will likely be able to produce eggs even when there are few resources, while a male Kakapo will be more capable of perpetuating the species when there are plenty, by mating with several females. This supports the Trivers–Willard hypothesis. The relationship between clutch sex ratio and maternal diet has conservation implications, because a captive population maintained on a high quality diet will produce fewer females and therefore fewer individuals valuable to the recovery of the species.
folklore suggests that the Kakapo was found throughout the country when the Polynesians
first arrived in Aotearoa
1,000 years ago; subfossil
and midden
deposits show that the bird was present throughout the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island
before and during early Māori times. Māori settlers from Polynesia
hunted the Kakapo for food and for their skins and feathers, which were made into luxurious cape
s. They used the dried heads as ear ornaments. Due to its flightlessness, strong scent and habit of freezing when threatened, the Kakapo was easy prey for the Māori and their dogs. Its eggs and chicks were also predated by the Polynesian Rat
or kiore, which the Māori brought to New Zealand. Furthermore, the deliberate clearing of vegetation by Māori reduced the habitable range for Kakapo. Although the Kakapo was extinct in many parts of the islands by the time Europeans arrived, including the Tararua and Aorangi Range
s, it was still present in the central part of the North Island and forested parts of the South Island.
Beginning in the 1840s, European settlers cleared vast tracts of land for farming and grazing
, further reducing Kakapo habitat. They brought more dogs and other mammalian predators, including domestic cats, black rats and stoats. Europeans knew little of the Kakapo until George Gray
of the British Museum
described it from a skin in 1845. As the Māori had done, early European explorers and their dogs ate Kakapo. In the late 19th century, the Kakapo became well known as a scientific curiosity, and thousands were captured or killed for zoos, museums and collectors. Most captured specimens died within months. From at least the 1870s, collectors knew the Kakapo population was declining; their prime concern was to collect as many as possible before the bird became extinct.
In the 1880s, large numbers of mustelids
(stoat
s, ferret
s and weasel
s) were released in New Zealand to reduce rabbit
numbers, but they also preyed heavily on many native species including the Kakapo. Other browsing animals, such as introduced deer
, competed with the Kakapo for food, and caused the extinction of some of its preferred plant species. The Kakapo was reportedly still present near the head of the Whanganui River
as late as 1894, with one of the last records of a Kakapo in the North Island being a single bird caught in the Kaimanawa Range
s by Te Kepa Puawheawhe in 1895.
in Fiordland as a nature reserve. In 1894, the government appointed Richard Henry
as caretaker. A keen naturalist, Henry was aware that native birds were declining, and began catching and moving Kakapo and kiwi
from the mainland to the predator-free Resolution Island. In six years, he moved more than 200 Kakapo to Resolution Island. By 1900, however, stoats had swum to Resolution Island and colonised it; they wiped out the nascent Kakapo population within 6 years.
In 1903, three Kakapo were moved from Resolution Island to the nature reserve of Little Barrier Island north-east of Auckland
, but feral cats were present and the Kakapo were never seen again. In 1912, three Kakapo were moved to another reserve, Kapiti Island
, north-west of Wellington
. One of them survived until at least 1936, despite the presence of feral cats for part of the intervening period.
By the 1920s, the Kakapo was extinct in the North Island
and its range and numbers in the South Island
were declining. One of its last refuges was rugged Fiordland. There, during the 1930s, it was often seen or heard, and occasionally eaten, by hunters or roadworkers. By the 1940s, reports of Kakapo were becoming scarce.
was established and began making regular expeditions to search for the Kakapo, mostly in Fiordland and what is now the Kahurangi National Park
in the northwest of the South Island. Seven Fiordland expeditions between 1951 and 1956 found only a few recent signs. Finally, in 1958 a Kakapo was caught and released in the Milford Sound
catchment area in Fiordland. Six more Kakapo were captured in 1961; one was released and the other five were transferred to the aviaries
of the Mount Bruce Bird Reserve near Masterton
in the North Island. Within months, four of the birds had died and the fifth died after about four years. In the next 12 years, regular expeditions found few signs of the Kakapo, indicating that numbers were continuing to decline. Only one bird was captured in 1967; it died the following year.
By the early 1970s, it was uncertain whether the Kakapo was still an extant species. At the end of 1974, scientists located several more male Kakapo and made the first scientific observations of Kakapo booming. These observations led Don Merton
to speculate for the first time that the Kakapo had a lek breeding system. From 1974 to 1976, 14 Kakapo were discovered but all appeared to be males. One male bird was captured in the Milford area in 1975, christened "Richard Henry", and transferred to Maud Island
. This raised the possibility that the species would become extinct, because there might be no surviving females. All the birds the Wildlife Service discovered from 1951 to 1976 were in U-shaped glaciated valleys flanked by almost-vertical cliffs and surrounded by high mountains. Such extreme terrain had slowed colonisation by browsing mammals, leaving islands of virtually unmodified native vegetation. However, even here, stoats were present and by 1976 the Kakapo was gone from the valley floors and only a few males survived high on the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs.
Before 1977, no expedition had been to Stewart Island/Rakiura
to search for the bird. In 1977, sightings of Kakapo were reported on Stewart Island. An expedition to the island found a track and bowl system on its first day; soon after, it located several dozen Kakapo. The finding in an 8,000 ha area of fire-modified scrubland and forest raised hope that the population would include females. The total population was estimated at 100 to 200 birds.
Mustelids have never colonised Steward Island/Rakiura, but feral cat
s were present. During a survey, it was apparent that cats killed Kakapo with a predation rate of 56% per annum. At this rate, the birds could not survive on the island and therefore an intensive cat control was introduced in 1982, after which no cat-killed Kakapo were found. However, to ensure the survival of the remaining birds, scientists decided later that this population should be transferred to predator-free islands; this operation was carried out between 1982 and 1997.
In 1989, a Kakapo Recovery Plan was developed and a Kakapo Recovery Group established to implement it. The New Zealand Department of Conservation replaced the Wildlife Service for this task. The first action of the plan was to relocate all the remaining Kakapo to suitable islands for them to breed. None of the New Zealand islands were ideal to establish Kakapo without rehabilitation
by extensive revegetation and the eradication of introduced mammalian predators and competitors. Four islands were finally chosen: Maud
, Hauturu/Little Barrier, Codfish
and Mana
. Sixty-five Kakapo (43 males, 22 females) were successfully transferred onto the four islands in five translocations. Some islands had to be rehabilitated several times when feral cats, stoats and weka
kept appearing. Little Barrier Island was eventually viewed as unsuitable due to the rugged landscape, the thick forest and the continued presence of rats, and its birds were evacuated in 1998. Along with Mana Island, it was replaced with two new Kakapo sanctuaries, Chalky Island (Te Kakahu) and Anchor Island
. The entire Kakapo population of Codfish Island was temporarily relocated in 1999 to Pearl Island in Port Pegasus
while rats were being eliminated from Codfish. All Kakapo on Pearl and Chalky Islands were moved to Anchor Island in 2005.
A key part of the Recovery Plan is the supplementary feeding of females. The Kakapo breeds only once every two to five years, when a certain type of plant species, primarily Dacrydium cupressinum (rimu)
, produces protein-rich fruit and seeds. Observations of the relationship between intermittent breeding and the plant's mast year
help biologists choose which suitable supplementary foods to increase Kakapo breeding frequency. In 1989, six preferred foods (apple
s, sweet potato
es, almond
s, brazil nut
s, sunflower seed
s and walnut
s) were supplied ad libitum
each night to 12 feeding stations. Males and females ate the supplied foods, and females nested on Little Barrier Island in the summers of 1989–91 for the first time since 1982, although nesting success was low.
Supplementary feeding not only increases Kakapo breeding frequency, but also affects the sex ratio
of Kakapo offspring, as maternal conditions influence this ratio. (See section "Reproduction" for more information on this topic.) This finding was subsequently used to increase the number of female chicks by deliberately manipulating maternal condition. During the winter of 1981, only females below 1.5 kg weight were given supplementary feeding to avoid raising their body condition, and the sex ratio results in 1982 were close to parity, eliminating the male-biased sex ratios in the unrestricted feeding.
Though breeding can be improved by supplementary feeding, the survival of young Kakapo is hampered by the presence of Polynesian rats. Of 21 chicks that hatched between 1981 and 1994, nine were either killed by rats or died and were subsequently eaten by rats. Nest protection has been intensified since 1995 by using traps
and poison stations as soon as a nest had been detected. A small video camera and infra-red light source
watch the nest continuously, which will remotely scare approaching rats by small bang and flash lights. To increase the success rate of nesting, a nest watcher places a small thermostatically controlled electric blanket over the eggs or chicks, whenever the female leaves the nest for food. The survival rate of chicks has increased from 29% in unprotected nests to 75% in protected ones.
To monitor the Kakapo population continuously, each bird is equipped with a radio transmitter. Every known Kakapo, barring some young chicks, has been given a name by Kakapo Recovery Programme officials. It is an affectionate way for conservation staff to refer to individual birds, and a stark reminder of how few remain. Artificial incubation
of eggs and hand-raising of chicks have often been used to improve the condition of the eggs and chicks. In November 2005, the population comprised 41 females and 45 males, including four fledgings (3 females and 1 male) bred in 2005. The oldest known Kakapo, "Richard Henry", was thought to be 80 years old at the time of his death in December 2010.
In 2006, the Kakapo Recovery Programme presented a new management plan that would run from 2006 to 2016. The key goals of this plan are to increase the female population to at least 60 by 2016, increase genetic diversity, maintain or restore a sufficiently large habitat to accommodate the expected increase in the Kakapo population, and maintain public awareness and support.
The Kakapo Recovery Plan has been a successful programme, with the numbers of Kakapo increasing steadily. Adult survival rate and productivity have both improved significantly since the programme's inception. However, the main goal is to establish at least one viable, self-sustaining, unmanaged population of Kakapo as a functional component of the ecosystem
in a protected habitat. To help meet this conservation challenge, two large Fiordland islands, Resolution
(20,860 ha) and Secretary
(8,140 ha), have been prepared for re-introduction of the Kakapo with large-scale ecological restoration activities.
During the 2008-2009 summer breeding season, the total population of Kakapo rose to over 100 for the first time since monitoring began, reaching by February 2010. More than twenty of the 34 chicks had to be hand-reared because of a shortage of food on Codfish Island.
" events of particular plant species such as the Rimu
which led Māori to credit the bird with the ability to foretell the future. Used to substantiate this claim were reported observations of these birds dropping the berries of the Hinau
and Tawa
trees (when they were in season) into secluded pools of water to preserve them as a food supply for the summer ahead; in legend this became the origin of the Māori practice of immersing food in water for the same purpose.
and it was hunted for food when it was still widespread. One source states that its flesh "resembles lamb in taste and texture", although European settlers have described the bird as having a "strong and slightly stringent flavour".
In breeding years, the loud booming calls of the males at their mating arenas made it easy for Māori hunting parties to track the Kakapo down, and it was also hunted while feeding or when dustbathing in dry weather. The bird was caught, generally at night, using snares, pitfall traps, or by groups of domesticated Polynesian dogs
which accompanied hunting parties — sometimes they would use fire sticks of various sorts to dazzle a bird in the darkness, stopping it in their tracks and making the capture easier. Cooking was done in a hāngi
or in gourds of boiling oil. The flesh of the bird could be preserved in its own fat and stored in containers for later consumption — hunters of the Ngāi Tahu
tribe would pack the flesh in baskets made from the inner bark of Totara tree or in containers constructed from kelp
. Bundles of Kakapo tail feathers were attached to the sides of these containers to provide decoration and a way to identify their contents. Also taken by the Māori were the bird's eggs, which are described as whitish "but not pure white", and about the same size as a kererū
egg.
As well as eating the meat of the Kakapo, Māori would use Kakapo skins with the feathers still attached or individually weave in Kakapo feathers with flax fibre to create cloaks and capes. Each one required up to 11,000 feathers to make. Not only were these garments very beautiful, they also kept the wearer very warm. They were highly valued, and the few still in existence today are considered taonga
(treasures) — indeed, the old Māori adage "You have a Kākāpō cape and you still complain of the cold" was used to describe someone who is never satisfied. Kakapo feathers were also used to decorate the heads of taiaha
, but were removed before use in combat.
Despite all, the Kakapo was also regarded as an affectionate pet
by the Māori. This was corroborated by European settlers in New Zealand in the 19th century, among them George Edward Grey
, who once wrote in a letter to an associate that his pet Kakapo's behavior towards him and his friends was "more like that of a dog than a bird".
George Robert Gray
George Robert Gray FRS was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years...
, 1845), also called owl parrot, is a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of large, flightless
Flightless bird
Flightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim. They are thought to have evolved from flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, kiwi, and penguin...
nocturnal
Nocturnal animal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal"....
parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
endemic
Endemism in birds
An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....
to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It has finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc of sensory, vibrissa-like feathers, a large grey beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, short legs, large feet, and wings and a tail of relatively short length. A certain combination of traits makes it unique among its kind—it is the world's only flightless parrot, the heaviest parrot, nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate
Basal metabolic rate
Basal Metabolic Rate , and the closely related resting metabolic rate , is the amount of daily energy expended by humans and other animals at rest. Rest is defined as existing in a neutrally temperate environment while in the post-absorptive state...
, no male parental care, and is the only parrot to have a polygynous
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds. Its anatomy typifies the tendency of bird evolution on oceanic islands, with few predators and abundant food: a generally robust physique, with accretion of thermodynamic
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
efficiency at the expense of flight abilities, reduced wing muscles, and a diminished keel
Keel (bird)
A keel or carina in bird anatomy is an extension of the sternum which runs axially along the midline of the sternum and extends outward, perpendicular to the plane of the ribs. The keel provides an anchor to which a bird's wing muscles attach, thereby providing adequate leverage for flight...
on the sternum
Sternum
The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bony plate shaped like a capital "T" located anteriorly to the heart in the center of the thorax...
.
The Kakapo is critically endangered; as of June 2011, only living individuals are known, most of which have been given names. The common ancestor of the Kakapo and the genus Nestor
Nestor (genus)
The genus Nestor is the only genus of the Nestorini tribe. Together with the Kakapo in the Strigopini tribe, they form the small parrot family Strigopidae. The genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham...
became isolated from the remaining parrot species when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
, around 82 million years ago. Around 70 million years ago, the kakapo diverged from the genus Nestor. In the absence of mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
ian predators, it lost the ability to fly. Because of Polynesian and European colonisation and the introduction of predators such as cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, ferret
Ferret
The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
s, and stoat
Stoat
The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
s, the Kakapo was almost wiped out. Conservation efforts began in the 1890s, but they were not very successful until the implementation of the Kakapo Recovery Plan in the 1980s. As of January 2009, surviving Kakapo are kept on two predator-free islands, Codfish (Whenua Hou)
Codfish Island
Codfish Island or Whenua Hou is a small island located to the west of Stewart Island/Rakiura in southern New Zealand. It reaches a height of close to the south coast. Following the eradication of possums and weka, it is a predator-free bird sanctuary and the focus of Kakapo recovery efforts...
and Anchor
Anchor Island
Anchor Island is a island in Dusky Sound, Fiordland National Park in the Southland district of New Zealand. The island has an elevation of and is from the New Zealand mainland. It is now used by the Department of Conservation as a safe haven for endangered birds such as Tieke and the Kakapo....
islands, where they are closely monitored. Two large Fiordland islands, Resolution
Resolution Island, New Zealand
Resolution Island is the largest island in Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, covering a total of . It is the country's seventh largest island...
and Secretary
Secretary Island
Secretary Island is an island in southwestern New Zealand, lying entirely within Fiordland National Park. Roughly triangular in shape, it lies between Doubtful Sound in the south and Thompson Sound in the north, with its west coast facing the Tasman Sea. Steeply sloped, it rises to nearly...
, have been the subject of large-scale ecological restoration
Island restoration
The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic species, as well as important breeding grounds for seabirds and some...
activities to prepare self-sustaining ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s with suitable habitat for the Kakapo.
The conservation of the Kakapo has made the species well known. Many books and documentaries detailing the plight of the Kakapo have been produced in recent years, one of the earliest being Two in the Bush, made by Gerald Durrell
Gerald Durrell
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1962. A feature length documentary, The Unnatural History of the Kakapo won two major awards at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. Two of the most significant documentaries, both made by NHNZ, are Kakapo - Night Parrot (1982) and To Save the Kakapo (1997). The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Natural History Unit also featured the Kakapo, including a sequence with Sir David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
in The Life of Birds
The Life of Birds
The Life of Birds is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 21 October 1998....
. It was also one of the endangered animals that Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
and Mark Carwardine
Mark Carwardine
Mark Carwardine is a zoologist who achieved widespread recognition for his Last Chance to See conservation expeditions with Douglas Adams, first aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1990. Since then he has become a leading and outspoken conservationist, and a prolific broadcaster, columnist and...
set out to find for the radio series and book Last Chance to See
Last Chance to See
Last Chance to See is a 1989 BBC radio documentary series and its accompanying book, written and presented by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. In the series, Adams and Carwardine travel to various locations in the hope of encountering species on the brink of extinction...
. An updated version of the series has been produced for BBC TV, in which Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
and Carwardine revisit the animals to see how they are getting on almost 20 years later, and in January 2009, they spent time filming the Kakapo on Codfish Island. Footage of a kakapo named Sirocco
Sirocco (parrot)
Sirocco is a Kākāpō, a large nocturnal parrot, and one of the few remaining Kākāpō in the world. He achieved individual fame following an incident on the BBC television series Last Chance to See in which he attempted to mate with zoologist Mark Carwardine...
attempting to mate with Cawardine's head was viewed by millions worldwide, leading to Sirocco becoming "spokesbird" for New Zealand wildlife conservation in 2010, as part of the International Year of Biodiversity. The kakapo was featured in the documentary series South Pacific (renamed Wild Pacific) episode Strange Evolutions, originally aired on June 13, 2009.
The Kakapo, like many other New Zealand bird species, was historically important to the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, appearing in many of their traditional legends and folklore. It was also hunted and used as a resource by Māori, both for its meat as a food source and for its feathers, which were used to make highly valued pieces of clothing.
Taxonomy, systematics and naming
The Kakapo was originally described by English ornithologist George Robert GrayGeorge Robert Gray
George Robert Gray FRS was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years...
in 1845. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
strix, genitive strigos "owl", and ops "face", while its specific epithet comes from habros "soft", and ptilon "feather". It has so many unusual features that it was initially placed in its own tribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
, Strigopini. Recent phylogenetic studies have confirmed the unique position of this genus as well as the closeness to the Kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
and the Kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
, both belonging to the New Zealand parrot genus Nestor. Together, they are now considered a separate family within the parrots, Strigopidae. Within the Strigopidae, the Kakapo is placed in its own tribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
, Strigopini. Earlier ornithologists felt that the Kakapo may be related to the ground parrot
Ground parrot
There are two species of ground parrot:*Eastern Ground Parrot*Western Ground Parrot...
s and Night Parrot
Night Parrot
The Night Parrot is a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. The species was originally placed within its own genus , but most authors now prefer to place it within the genus Pezoporus together with the two ground parrots.No known sightings of the bird were made between...
of Australia due to their similar coloration, but this is contradicted by recent studies; rather, the cryptic
Crypsis
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms. It may be either a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation, and methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle, transparency, and mimicry...
color seems to be adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
to terrestrial habits that evolved twice convergently
Convergent evolution
Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...
.
The name "Kakapo" is derived from the Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
terms kākā ("parrot") + pō ("night"). The Polynesian
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
term kākā and its variant ʻāʻā were the generic South Pacific terms for Psittacidae. For example, the native names of the Kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
, the extinct Black-fronted Parakeet
Black-fronted Parakeet
The extinct Black-fronted Parakeet or Tahiti Parakeet was endemic to the Pacific island of Tahiti. Its native name was simply ’ā’ā according to Latham though White gives "aa-maha"....
(Cyanoramphus zealandicus) of Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, and the New Zealand members of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Cyanoramphus
Cyanoramphus
Cyanoramphus is a genus of parakeets native to New Zealand and islands of the southern Pacific Ocean. The New Zealand forms are often referred to as kākāriki. They are small to medium sized parakeets with long tails and predominately green plumage. Most species are forest species, although several...
are also derived from them.
Description
Wing
A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...
s for its size and lacking the pronounced keel bone (sternum
Sternum
The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bony plate shaped like a capital "T" located anteriorly to the heart in the center of the thorax...
) that anchors the flight muscles of other birds. It uses its wings for balance, support, and to break its fall when leaping from trees. Unlike other land birds, the Kakapo can accumulate large amounts of body fat
Fat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
to store energy, making it the heaviest parrot.
The upper parts of the Kakapo have yellowish moss-green feather
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s barred or mottled with black or dark brownish grey, blending well with native vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
.
Individuals may have strongly varying degrees of mottling and colour tone and intensity — museum specimens show that some birds had completely yellow colouring. The breast and flank are yellowish-green streaked with yellow. The belly, undertail, neck and face are predominantly yellowish, streaked with pale green and weakly mottled with brownish-grey. Because the feathers do not need the strength and stiffness required for flight, they are exceptionally soft, giving rise to the specific epithet habroptilus. The Kakapo has a conspicuous facial disc of fine feathers, resembling the face of an owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
; thus, early European settlers called it the "owl parrot". The beak is surrounded by delicate vibrissae or "whiskers", which the bird uses to sense the ground for navigation as it walks with its head lowered. The mandible is mostly ivory-coloured, with part of the upper mandible being bluish-grey. The eyes are dark brown. Kakapo feet are large, scaly, and, as in all parrots, zygodactyl
Dactyly
In biology, dactyly is the arrangement of digits on the hands, feet, or sometimes wings of a tetrapod animal. It comes from the Greek word δακτυλος = "finger".Sometimes the ending "-dactylia" is used...
(two toes face forward and two backward). The pronounced claws are particularly useful for climbing. The ends of the tail feathers often become worn from being continually dragged on the ground.
Brood patch
thumb|250px|Brood patch of [[Sand Martin]]A brood patch is a patch of featherless skin that is visible on the underside of birds during the nesting season. This patch of skin is well supplied with blood vessels at the surface making it possible for the birds to transfer heat to their eggs when...
on the bare skin of the belly.
Like many parrots, the Kakapo has a variety of calls. As well as the booms (see below for a recording) and chings of their mating calls, it will often skraark to announce its location to other birds.
The Kakapo has a well-developed sense of smell, which complements its nocturnal lifestyle. It can discriminate among odours while foraging; a behaviour reported for only one other parrot species. One of the most striking characteristics of the Kakapo is its pleasant and powerful odour, which has been described as musty. Given the Kakapo's well-developed sense of smell
Olfaction
Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...
, this scent may be a social chemosignal. The smell often alerts predators to the largely defenseless Kakapo.
Anatomy
The skeleton of the Kakapo differs from other parrots in several features associated with flightlessness. Firstly, it has the smallest relative wing size of any parrot. Its wing feathers are shorter, more rounded, less asymmetrical, and have fewer distal barbules to lock the feathers together. The sternum is small, and has a low, vestigial, keel, and a shortened spina externa. As in other flightless birds and some other flighted parrots, the furculaFurcula
The ' is a forked bone found in birds, formed by the fusion of the two clavicles. In birds, its function is the strengthening of the thoracic skeleton to withstand the rigors of flight....
is not fused, but consists of a pair of clavicles lying in contact with each coracoid. As in other flightless birds, the angle between the coracoid and sternum is enlarged. The Kakapo has a larger pelvis than other parrots. The proximal bones of the leg and arm are disproportionately long and the distal elements are disproportionately short.
The pectoral
Pectoralis major muscle
The pectoralis major is a thick, fan-shaped muscle, situated at the chest of the body. It makes up the bulk of the chest muscles in the male and lies under the breast in the female...
musculature of the Kakapo is also modified by flightlessness. The pectoralis
Pectoralis major muscle
The pectoralis major is a thick, fan-shaped muscle, situated at the chest of the body. It makes up the bulk of the chest muscles in the male and lies under the breast in the female...
and supracoracoideus muscles are greatly reduced. The propatagialis tendo longus has no distinct muscle belly. The sternocoracoideus is tendinous. There is an extensive cucularis capitis clavicularis muscle that is associated with the large crop.
Ecology and behaviour
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
to occupy an ecological niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
normally filled by various species of mammal (the only non-marine mammals native to New Zealand are three species of small bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s). Before the arrival of humans, the Kakapo was distributed throughout the three main islands of New Zealand. It lived in a variety of habitats, including tussocklands, scrublands and coastal areas. It also inhabited forests, including those dominated by podocarps
Podocarpaceae
Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs. It contains 19 genera if Phyllocladus is included and if Manoao and Sundacarpus are recognized....
(rimu
Dacrydium cupressinum
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use....
, matai
Prumnopitys taxifolia
Prumnopitys taxifolia is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island/Rakiura but is uncommon there....
, kahikatea
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides or kahikatea is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand.The tree grows to a height of with a trunk exceeding in diameter, and is buttressed at the base. It is dominant in lowland forest and wetlands throughout the North and South Islands...
, totara
Podocarpus totara
Podocarpus totara is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m.-Description:...
), beeches
Nothofagus
Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 35 species of trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia...
, tawa
Tawa (tree)
The Tawa tree is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in...
, and rata
Metrosideros umbellata
Southern rātā , is a tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 15 m. or more tall with a trunk up to 1 m. or more in diameter. It produces masses of red flowers in summer...
. In Fiordland
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys...
, areas of avalanche and slip debris with regenerating and heavily fruiting vegetation — such as five finger, wineberry, bush lawyer
Bush lawyer (plant)
Bush lawyer is a common name of a group of climbing blackberry plants that are found in New Zealand, many of them rampant forest vines...
, tutu
Tutu (plant)
Tutu is a common name of Māori origin for plants in the genus Coriaria found in New Zealand.Six New Zealand native species are known by the name:*Coriaria angustissima*Coriaria arborea*Coriaria lurida*Coriaria plumosa...
, hebes
Hebe (plant)
Hebe is a genus of plants native to New Zealand, Rapa in French Polynesia, the Falkland Islands, and South America. It includes about 90 species and is the largest plant genus in New Zealand. Apart from H. rapensis , all species occur in New Zealand. This includes the two species, H. salicifolia...
, and coprosma
Coprosma
Coprosma is a genus of 108 species that are found in New Zealand , Hawaii , Borneo, Java, New Guinea, islands of the Pacific Ocean to Australia and the Juan Fernández Is. Many species are small shrubs with tiny evergreen leaves, but a few are small trees and have much larger leaves...
s — became known as "Kakapo gardens".
The Kakapo is primarily nocturnal; it roosts under cover in trees or on the ground during the day and moves around its territories at night.
Though the Kakapo cannot fly, it is an excellent climber, ascending to the crowns of the tallest trees. It can also "parachute" - descending by leaping and spreading its wings. In this way it may travel a few metres at an angle of less than 45 degrees.
Having lost the ability to fly, it has developed strong legs. Movement is often by way of a rapid "jog-like" gait by which it can move many kilometres. A female has been observed making two return trips each night during nesting from her nest to a food source up to 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) away and the male may walk from its home range to a mating arena up to 5 km (3.1 mi) away during the mating season (October–January).
Young birds indulge in play fighting and one bird will often lock the neck of another under its chin. The Kakapo is curious by nature and has been known to interact with humans. Conservation staff and volunteers have engaged extensively with some Kakapo, which have distinct personalities.
The Kakapo was a very successful species in pre-human New Zealand and one of the reasons for this was their set of adaptations to effectively avoid predation from native birds of prey, which were their only predators in the past. However, these same behaviours have been of no use to them when faced with the mammalian predators which were introduced to New Zealand after human settlement, because these hunt in different ways. As hunters, birds behave very differently to mammals, relying on their powerful vision to find prey and thus, they usually, (with the exception of owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s) hunt by day. Apart from the two surviving New Zealand raptors
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
, the New Zealand Falcon and Swamp Harrier
Swamp Harrier
The Swamp Harrier also known as the Marsh Harrier, Australasian Harrier, Kāhu, Swamp-hawk or New Zealand Hawk is a large, slim bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.-Description:...
, there were two other birds of prey in pre-human New Zealand: Haast's Eagle
Haast's Eagle
Haast's Eagle was a species of massive eagles that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its prey consisted mainly of gigantic flightless birds that were unable to defend themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles,...
and Eyles' Harrier
Eyles' Harrier
Eyles' Harrier is an extinct bird of prey which lived in New Zealand.It was an example of island gigantism, weighing over twice as much as a Swamp Harrier. It was a generalist predator, taking prey of the same size as small eagle species do – land animals weighing one or a few kilograms...
. All four species soared overhead searching for prey in daylight and to avoid these avian predators, the Kakapo's ancestors adopted camouflaged plumage and became nocturnal. In addition, when the Kakapo feels threatened, it freezes, so that it is more effectively camouflaged in the forest vegetation which their plumage resembles. It was not entirely safe at night when the Laughing Owl
Laughing Owl
The Laughing Owl , also known as Whēkau or the White-faced Owl, was an endemic owl found in New Zealand, but is now extinct. It was plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand in 1840. Specimens were sent to the British Museum, where a scientific description was published in 1845...
was active and it is apparent from their nest deposits on Canterbury limestone cliffs that the Kakapo was among their prey.
Mammalian predators, in contrast to birds, rely on their sense of smell and hearing to find prey and often hunt by night. The Kakapo's adaptations to avoid avian predation have thus been useless against its new enemies - this is one of the reasons for its massive decline since the introduction of dogs, cats and mustelids
Mustelidae
Mustelidae , commonly referred to as the weasel family, are a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because in the past it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa...
- see Conservation: Human impact. A typical way for humans to hunt down the Kakapo is by releasing trained dogs.
Diet
The beak of the Kakapo is adapted for grinding food finely. For this reason, the Kakapo has a very small gizzardGizzard
The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including birds, reptiles, earthworms and some fish. This specialized stomach constructed of thick, muscular walls is used for grinding up food; often rocks are...
compared to other birds of their size. It is generally herbivorous
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
, eating native plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s, seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
s and even the sapwood of trees. A study in 1984 identified 25 plant species as Kakapo food. It is particularly fond of the fruit of the rimu
Dacrydium cupressinum
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use....
tree, and will feed on it exclusively during seasons when it is abundant. The Kakapo has a distinctive habit of grabbing a leaf or frond with a foot and stripping the nutritious parts of the plant out with its beak, leaving a ball of indigestible fiber. These little clumps of plant fibres are a distinctive sign of the presence of the bird. The Kakapo is believed to employ bacteria in the foregut to ferment and help digest plant matter.
Kakapo diet changes according to the season. The plants eaten most frequently during the year include some species of Lycopodium ramulosum, Lycopodium fastigium, Schizaea fistulosa, Blechnum minus, Blechnum procerum, Cyathodes juniperina, Dracophyllum longifolium, Olearia colensoi and Thelymitra venosa. Individual plants of the same species are often treated differently. The Kakapo leaves conspicuous evidence of their feeding activities, from 10×10 m to 50×100 m feeding ground areas. Manuka
Leptospermum scoparium
Leptospermum scoparium is a shrub or small tree native to New Zealand and southeast Australia. Evidence suggests that L. scoparium originated in Australia before the onset of the Miocene aridity and dispersed relatively recently from Eastern Australia to New Zealand. It is likely that on arrival...
and yellow silver pine scrubs are obvious signs of its centre of feeding activities.
Reproduction
During the courting season, males leave their home ranges for hilltops and ridge
Ridge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
s where they establish their own mating courts. These leks can be up to 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from a Kakapo's usual territory and are an average of 50 metres (160 ft) apart within the lek arena. Males remain in the region of their court throughout the courting season. At the start of the breeding season, males will fight to try to secure the best courts. They confront each other with raised feathers, spread wings, open beaks, raised claws and loud screeching and growling. Fighting may leave birds with injuries or even kill them.
Each court consists of one or more saucer-shaped depressions or "bowls" dug in the ground by the male, up to 10 centimetres (4 in) deep and long enough to fit the half-metre length of the bird. The Kakapo is one of only a handful of birds in the world which actually constructs its leks. Bowls are often created next to rock faces, banks, or tree trunks to help reflect sound - the bowls themselves function as amplifiers to enhance the projection of the males booming mating calls. Each male’s bowls are connected by a network of trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
s or tracks which may extend 50 metres (160 ft) along a ridge or 20 metres (60 ft) in diameter around a hilltop. Males meticulously clear their bowls and tracks of debris. One way researchers check whether bowls are visited at night is to place a few twigs in the bowl; if the male visits overnight, he will pick them up in his beak and toss them away.
To attract females, males make loud, low-frequency (below 100 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
) booming calls from their bowls by inflating a thoracic
Thorax
The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...
sac. They start with low grunts, which increase in volume as the sac inflates. After a sequence of about 20 loud booms, the male Kakapo emits a high frequency, metallic "ching" sound. He stands for a short while before again lowering his head, inflating his chest and starting another sequence of booms. The booms can be heard at least one kilometre (0.6 mi) away on a still night; wind can carry the sound at least five kilometres (3 mi). Males boom for an average of eight hours a night; each male may produce thousands of booms in this time. This may continue every night for three or four months during which time the male may lose half his body weight. Each male moves around the bowls in his court so that the booms are sent out in different directions. These booms are also notorious for attracting predators, because of the long range at which they can be heard.
Females are attracted by the booms of the competing males; they too may need to walk several kilometres from their territories to the arena. Once a female enters the court of one of the males, the male performs a display in which he rocks from side to side and makes clicking noises with his beak. He turns his back to the female, spreads his wings in display and walks backwards towards her. The duration of attempted copulation is between 2 to 14 minutes. Once the birds have mated, the female returns to her home territory to lay eggs and raise the chicks. The male continues booming in the hope of attracting another female.
The female Kakapo lays up to three eggs
Ovum
An ovum is a haploid female reproductive cell or gamete. Both animals and embryophytes have ova. The term ovule is used for the young ovum of an animal, as well as the plant structure that carries the female gametophyte and egg cell and develops into a seed after fertilization...
per breeding cycle. She nests on the ground under the cover of plants or in cavities such as hollow tree trunks. The female incubates the eggs faithfully, but is forced to leave them every night in search of food. Predators are known to eat the eggs and the embryos inside can also die of cold in the mother's absence. Kakapo eggs usually hatch within 30 days, bearing fluffy gray chicks that are quite helpless. After the eggs hatch, the female feeds the chicks for three months, and the chicks continue to remain with the female for some months after fledging
Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...
. The young chicks are just as vulnerable to predators as the eggs, and young have been killed by many of the same predators that attack adults. Chicks leave the nest at approximately 10 to 12 weeks of age. As they gain greater independence, their mothers may feed the chicks sporadically for up to 6 months.
Because the Kakapo is long-lived, with an average life expectancy of 95 years and the maximum at about 120 years, it tends to have an adolescence before it starts breeding. Males do not start to boom until about 5 years of age. It was thought that females reach sexual maturity
Sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...
at 9 years of age; but this idea was debunked in the 2008 breeding season when two 6-year-old females named Apirama and Rakiura laid eggs. Generally females do not seek out males until they are between 9 and 11-years-old. The Kakapo does not breed every year and has one of the lowest rates of reproduction among birds. Breeding occurs only in years when trees mast (fruit heavily), providing a plentiful food supply. Rimu
Dacrydium cupressinum
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use....
mast occurs only every three to five years, so in rimu-dominant forests such as those on Codfish Island, Kakapo breeding occurs as infrequently.
Another interesting aspect of the Kakapo's breeding system is that a female can alter the sex ratio of her offspring depending on her condition. A female that eats protein-rich foods produces more male offspring (males have 3%–40% more body weight than females). Females produce offspring biased toward the dispersive sex when competition for resources (such as food) is high and toward the non-dispersive sex when food is plentiful. A female Kakapo will likely be able to produce eggs even when there are few resources, while a male Kakapo will be more capable of perpetuating the species when there are plenty, by mating with several females. This supports the Trivers–Willard hypothesis. The relationship between clutch sex ratio and maternal diet has conservation implications, because a captive population maintained on a high quality diet will produce fewer females and therefore fewer individuals valuable to the recovery of the species.
Conservation
Fossil records indicate that in pre-Polynesian times, the Kakapo was New Zealand's third most common bird and it was widespread on all three main islands. However, the population of Kakapo in New Zealand has declined massively since human settlement of the country. Since 1891, conservation efforts have been made to prevent extinction. The most successful scheme has been the Kakapo Recovery Plan; this was implemented in 1989 and is still ongoing.Human impact
The first factor in the decline of the Kakapo was the arrival of humans. MāoriMaori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Māori of New Zealand may usefully be divided...
folklore suggests that the Kakapo was found throughout the country when the Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
first arrived in Aotearoa
Aotearoa
Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The...
1,000 years ago; subfossil
Subfossil
Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
and midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
deposits show that the bird was present throughout the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island
Stewart Island/Rakiura
Stewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island of New Zealand. It lies south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. Its permanent population is slightly over 400 people, most of whom live in the settlement of Oban.- History and naming :...
before and during early Māori times. Māori settlers from Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
hunted the Kakapo for food and for their skins and feathers, which were made into luxurious cape
Cape
Cape can be used to describe any sleeveless outer garment, such as a poncho, but usually it is a long garment that covers only the back half of the wearer, fastening around the neck. They were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon, and have had periodic...
s. They used the dried heads as ear ornaments. Due to its flightlessness, strong scent and habit of freezing when threatened, the Kakapo was easy prey for the Māori and their dogs. Its eggs and chicks were also predated by the Polynesian Rat
Polynesian Rat
The Polynesian Rat, or Pacific Rat , known to the Māori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the Brown Rat and Black Rat. The Polynesian Rat originates in Southeast Asia but, like its cousins, has become well travelled – infiltrating Fiji and most Polynesian...
or kiore, which the Māori brought to New Zealand. Furthermore, the deliberate clearing of vegetation by Māori reduced the habitable range for Kakapo. Although the Kakapo was extinct in many parts of the islands by the time Europeans arrived, including the Tararua and Aorangi Range
Aorangi Range
The Aorangi Range in south eastern Wairarapa is the southernmost mountain range in the North Island and extends more than 20 kilometres north from Cape Palliser...
s, it was still present in the central part of the North Island and forested parts of the South Island.
Beginning in the 1840s, European settlers cleared vast tracts of land for farming and grazing
Grazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
, further reducing Kakapo habitat. They brought more dogs and other mammalian predators, including domestic cats, black rats and stoats. Europeans knew little of the Kakapo until George Gray
George Robert Gray
George Robert Gray FRS was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
described it from a skin in 1845. As the Māori had done, early European explorers and their dogs ate Kakapo. In the late 19th century, the Kakapo became well known as a scientific curiosity, and thousands were captured or killed for zoos, museums and collectors. Most captured specimens died within months. From at least the 1870s, collectors knew the Kakapo population was declining; their prime concern was to collect as many as possible before the bird became extinct.
In the 1880s, large numbers of mustelids
Mustelidae
Mustelidae , commonly referred to as the weasel family, are a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because in the past it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa...
(stoat
Stoat
The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
s, ferret
Ferret
The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
s and weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
s) were released in New Zealand to reduce rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
numbers, but they also preyed heavily on many native species including the Kakapo. Other browsing animals, such as introduced deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, competed with the Kakapo for food, and caused the extinction of some of its preferred plant species. The Kakapo was reportedly still present near the head of the Whanganui River
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand.Known for many years as the Wanganui River, the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991, according with the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island...
as late as 1894, with one of the last records of a Kakapo in the North Island being a single bird caught in the Kaimanawa Range
Kaimanawa Range
The Kaimanawa Range of mountains is located in the central North Island of New Zealand. They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast/southwest direction through largely uninhabited country to the south of Lake Taupo, east of the "Desert Road"...
s by Te Kepa Puawheawhe in 1895.
Early protection efforts
In 1891, the New Zealand government set aside Resolution IslandResolution Island, New Zealand
Resolution Island is the largest island in Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, covering a total of . It is the country's seventh largest island...
in Fiordland as a nature reserve. In 1894, the government appointed Richard Henry
Richard Treacy Henry
Richard Treacy Henry was a New Zealand conservationist and reserve manager who became an expert on the natural history of flightless birds in New Zealand, especially the Kakapo. Born in County Kildare, Ireland, his family migrated to Australia in 1851 where he grew up...
as caretaker. A keen naturalist, Henry was aware that native birds were declining, and began catching and moving Kakapo and kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
from the mainland to the predator-free Resolution Island. In six years, he moved more than 200 Kakapo to Resolution Island. By 1900, however, stoats had swum to Resolution Island and colonised it; they wiped out the nascent Kakapo population within 6 years.
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, but feral cats were present and the Kakapo were never seen again. In 1912, three Kakapo were moved to another reserve, Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island
-External links:* , Department of Conservation* * , Nature Coast Enterprise *...
, north-west of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. One of them survived until at least 1936, despite the presence of feral cats for part of the intervening period.
By the 1920s, the Kakapo was extinct in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
and its range and numbers in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
were declining. One of its last refuges was rugged Fiordland. There, during the 1930s, it was often seen or heard, and occasionally eaten, by hunters or roadworkers. By the 1940s, reports of Kakapo were becoming scarce.
1950–1989 conservation efforts
In the 1950s, the New Zealand Wildlife ServiceNew Zealand Wildlife Service
The New Zealand Wildlife Service is a defunct government department that was replaced by the Department of Conservation in 1987.-External links:* - New Zealand Wildlife Service collection...
was established and began making regular expeditions to search for the Kakapo, mostly in Fiordland and what is now the Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers 4,520 km². It is the second largest of New Zealand's fourteen national parks...
in the northwest of the South Island. Seven Fiordland expeditions between 1951 and 1956 found only a few recent signs. Finally, in 1958 a Kakapo was caught and released in the Milford Sound
Milford Sound
Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site...
catchment area in Fiordland. Six more Kakapo were captured in 1961; one was released and the other five were transferred to the aviaries
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
of the Mount Bruce Bird Reserve near Masterton
Masterton
Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...
in the North Island. Within months, four of the birds had died and the fifth died after about four years. In the next 12 years, regular expeditions found few signs of the Kakapo, indicating that numbers were continuing to decline. Only one bird was captured in 1967; it died the following year.
By the early 1970s, it was uncertain whether the Kakapo was still an extant species. At the end of 1974, scientists located several more male Kakapo and made the first scientific observations of Kakapo booming. These observations led Don Merton
Don Merton
Donald Merton, QSM was a New Zealand conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kakapo....
to speculate for the first time that the Kakapo had a lek breeding system. From 1974 to 1976, 14 Kakapo were discovered but all appeared to be males. One male bird was captured in the Milford area in 1975, christened "Richard Henry", and transferred to Maud Island
Maud Island
Maud Island, originally called Te Hoiere in the Māori language, is the second-largest island in the Marlborough Sounds on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand, with a total area of .-Fauna:...
. This raised the possibility that the species would become extinct, because there might be no surviving females. All the birds the Wildlife Service discovered from 1951 to 1976 were in U-shaped glaciated valleys flanked by almost-vertical cliffs and surrounded by high mountains. Such extreme terrain had slowed colonisation by browsing mammals, leaving islands of virtually unmodified native vegetation. However, even here, stoats were present and by 1976 the Kakapo was gone from the valley floors and only a few males survived high on the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs.
Before 1977, no expedition had been to Stewart Island/Rakiura
Stewart Island/Rakiura
Stewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island of New Zealand. It lies south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. Its permanent population is slightly over 400 people, most of whom live in the settlement of Oban.- History and naming :...
to search for the bird. In 1977, sightings of Kakapo were reported on Stewart Island. An expedition to the island found a track and bowl system on its first day; soon after, it located several dozen Kakapo. The finding in an 8,000 ha area of fire-modified scrubland and forest raised hope that the population would include females. The total population was estimated at 100 to 200 birds.
Mustelids have never colonised Steward Island/Rakiura, but feral cat
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
s were present. During a survey, it was apparent that cats killed Kakapo with a predation rate of 56% per annum. At this rate, the birds could not survive on the island and therefore an intensive cat control was introduced in 1982, after which no cat-killed Kakapo were found. However, to ensure the survival of the remaining birds, scientists decided later that this population should be transferred to predator-free islands; this operation was carried out between 1982 and 1997.
Kakapo recovery plan
| Translocated to | Number of Kakapo | Deaths < 6 months | Survived as of November 1992 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maud Island (1974–81) | 9 (6♂, 3♀) | 3 (2♂, 1♀) | 4 (2♂, 2♀) |
| Little Barrier Island (1982) | 22 (13♂, 9♀) | 2 (1♂, 1♀) | 15–19 (10–12♂, 5–7♀) |
| Codfish Island (1987–92) | 30 (20♂, 10♀) | 0 | 20–30 (13–20♂, 7–10♀) |
| Maud Island (1989–91) | 6 (4♂, 2♀) | 0 | 5 (3♂, 2♀) |
| Mana Island (1992) | 2 (2♀) | 1 (1♀) | 1 (1♀) |
| Total | 65 (43♂, 22♀) | 6 (3♂, 3♀) | 41–55 (27–36♂, 14–19♀) |
| Note: ♂ = males, ♀ = females. | |||
In 1989, a Kakapo Recovery Plan was developed and a Kakapo Recovery Group established to implement it. The New Zealand Department of Conservation replaced the Wildlife Service for this task. The first action of the plan was to relocate all the remaining Kakapo to suitable islands for them to breed. None of the New Zealand islands were ideal to establish Kakapo without rehabilitation
Island restoration
The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic species, as well as important breeding grounds for seabirds and some...
by extensive revegetation and the eradication of introduced mammalian predators and competitors. Four islands were finally chosen: Maud
Maud Island
Maud Island, originally called Te Hoiere in the Māori language, is the second-largest island in the Marlborough Sounds on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand, with a total area of .-Fauna:...
, Hauturu/Little Barrier, Codfish
Codfish Island
Codfish Island or Whenua Hou is a small island located to the west of Stewart Island/Rakiura in southern New Zealand. It reaches a height of close to the south coast. Following the eradication of possums and weka, it is a predator-free bird sanctuary and the focus of Kakapo recovery efforts...
and Mana
Mana Island, New Zealand
Mana Island is the smaller of two islands that lie off the southwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand . The island’s name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe, "the mana of Kupe"....
. Sixty-five Kakapo (43 males, 22 females) were successfully transferred onto the four islands in five translocations. Some islands had to be rehabilitated several times when feral cats, stoats and weka
Weka
The Weka or woodhen is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand, where four subspecies are recognized. Weka are sturdy brown birds, about the size of a chicken. As omnivores, they feed mainly on invertebrates and fruit...
kept appearing. Little Barrier Island was eventually viewed as unsuitable due to the rugged landscape, the thick forest and the continued presence of rats, and its birds were evacuated in 1998. Along with Mana Island, it was replaced with two new Kakapo sanctuaries, Chalky Island (Te Kakahu) and Anchor Island
Anchor Island
Anchor Island is a island in Dusky Sound, Fiordland National Park in the Southland district of New Zealand. The island has an elevation of and is from the New Zealand mainland. It is now used by the Department of Conservation as a safe haven for endangered birds such as Tieke and the Kakapo....
. The entire Kakapo population of Codfish Island was temporarily relocated in 1999 to Pearl Island in Port Pegasus
Port Pegasus
Port Pegasus is located at the southern end of Stewart Island in New Zealand. From the 1890s to the 1950s, Port Pegasus was the site of a small fishing community. There was also a small tin-mining boom in the area in the 1890s...
while rats were being eliminated from Codfish. All Kakapo on Pearl and Chalky Islands were moved to Anchor Island in 2005.
Dacrydium cupressinum
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use....
, produces protein-rich fruit and seeds. Observations of the relationship between intermittent breeding and the plant's mast year
Mast year
A mast year is a year in which vegetation produces a significant abundance of mast . The term originally applied solely to trees, like oak trees, that produce fruit useful for feeding farm animals...
help biologists choose which suitable supplementary foods to increase Kakapo breeding frequency. In 1989, six preferred foods (apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
es, almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s, brazil nut
Brazil Nut
The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.- Order :...
s, sunflower seed
Sunflower seed
The sunflower seed is the fruit of the sunflower . The term "sunflower seed" is actually a misnomer when applied to the seed in its pericarp . Botanically speaking, it is more properly referred to as an achene. When dehulled, the edible remainder is called the sunflower kernel.There are three types...
s and walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s) were supplied ad libitum
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
each night to 12 feeding stations. Males and females ate the supplied foods, and females nested on Little Barrier Island in the summers of 1989–91 for the first time since 1982, although nesting success was low.
Supplementary feeding not only increases Kakapo breeding frequency, but also affects the sex ratio
Sex ratio
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. The primary sex ratio is the ratio at the time of conception, secondary sex ratio is the ratio at time of birth, and tertiary sex ratio is the ratio of mature organisms....
of Kakapo offspring, as maternal conditions influence this ratio. (See section "Reproduction" for more information on this topic.) This finding was subsequently used to increase the number of female chicks by deliberately manipulating maternal condition. During the winter of 1981, only females below 1.5 kg weight were given supplementary feeding to avoid raising their body condition, and the sex ratio results in 1982 were close to parity, eliminating the male-biased sex ratios in the unrestricted feeding.
Though breeding can be improved by supplementary feeding, the survival of young Kakapo is hampered by the presence of Polynesian rats. Of 21 chicks that hatched between 1981 and 1994, nine were either killed by rats or died and were subsequently eaten by rats. Nest protection has been intensified since 1995 by using traps
Rat trap
A rat trap is a trap designed to catch rats.Rats are suspicious of new objects and traps with only one entrance. If they see other rats have been trapped they may avoid the trap. Traps which do not address these issues are likely to catch only young, inexperienced rats, not the older ones.Spring...
and poison stations as soon as a nest had been detected. A small video camera and infra-red light source
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
watch the nest continuously, which will remotely scare approaching rats by small bang and flash lights. To increase the success rate of nesting, a nest watcher places a small thermostatically controlled electric blanket over the eggs or chicks, whenever the female leaves the nest for food. The survival rate of chicks has increased from 29% in unprotected nests to 75% in protected ones.
To monitor the Kakapo population continuously, each bird is equipped with a radio transmitter. Every known Kakapo, barring some young chicks, has been given a name by Kakapo Recovery Programme officials. It is an affectionate way for conservation staff to refer to individual birds, and a stark reminder of how few remain. Artificial incubation
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
of eggs and hand-raising of chicks have often been used to improve the condition of the eggs and chicks. In November 2005, the population comprised 41 females and 45 males, including four fledgings (3 females and 1 male) bred in 2005. The oldest known Kakapo, "Richard Henry", was thought to be 80 years old at the time of his death in December 2010.
In 2006, the Kakapo Recovery Programme presented a new management plan that would run from 2006 to 2016. The key goals of this plan are to increase the female population to at least 60 by 2016, increase genetic diversity, maintain or restore a sufficiently large habitat to accommodate the expected increase in the Kakapo population, and maintain public awareness and support.
The Kakapo Recovery Plan has been a successful programme, with the numbers of Kakapo increasing steadily. Adult survival rate and productivity have both improved significantly since the programme's inception. However, the main goal is to establish at least one viable, self-sustaining, unmanaged population of Kakapo as a functional component of the ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
in a protected habitat. To help meet this conservation challenge, two large Fiordland islands, Resolution
Resolution Island, New Zealand
Resolution Island is the largest island in Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, covering a total of . It is the country's seventh largest island...
(20,860 ha) and Secretary
Secretary Island
Secretary Island is an island in southwestern New Zealand, lying entirely within Fiordland National Park. Roughly triangular in shape, it lies between Doubtful Sound in the south and Thompson Sound in the north, with its west coast facing the Tasman Sea. Steeply sloped, it rises to nearly...
(8,140 ha), have been prepared for re-introduction of the Kakapo with large-scale ecological restoration activities.
During the 2008-2009 summer breeding season, the total population of Kakapo rose to over 100 for the first time since monitoring began, reaching by February 2010. More than twenty of the 34 chicks had to be hand-reared because of a shortage of food on Codfish Island.
In Māori culture
The Kakapo is associated with a rich tradition of Māori folklore and beliefs. The bird's irregular breeding cycle was understood to be associated with heavy fruiting or "mastingMast year
A mast year is a year in which vegetation produces a significant abundance of mast . The term originally applied solely to trees, like oak trees, that produce fruit useful for feeding farm animals...
" events of particular plant species such as the Rimu
Dacrydium cupressinum
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use....
which led Māori to credit the bird with the ability to foretell the future. Used to substantiate this claim were reported observations of these birds dropping the berries of the Hinau
Elaeocarpus dentatus
Elaeocarpus dentatus, commonly known as the Hinau, is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family, bearing bitter edible fruit found in New Zealand.It was first collected on 5 November 1769....
and Tawa
Tawa (tree)
The Tawa tree is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in...
trees (when they were in season) into secluded pools of water to preserve them as a food supply for the summer ahead; in legend this became the origin of the Māori practice of immersing food in water for the same purpose.
Use for food and clothing
The meat of Kakapo made good eating and was considered by Māori to be a delicacyDelicacy
A delicacy is a food item that is considered highly desirable in certain cultures. Often this is because of unusual flavors or characteristics or because it is rare....
and it was hunted for food when it was still widespread. One source states that its flesh "resembles lamb in taste and texture", although European settlers have described the bird as having a "strong and slightly stringent flavour".
In breeding years, the loud booming calls of the males at their mating arenas made it easy for Māori hunting parties to track the Kakapo down, and it was also hunted while feeding or when dustbathing in dry weather. The bird was caught, generally at night, using snares, pitfall traps, or by groups of domesticated Polynesian dogs
Kuri
Kuri can refer to:*Kurī, Māori dog*Kuri , West African breed of cattle*Kuri , kitchen in a Zen monastery, Japanese Chestnut*The Kuri subgroup of Yuin–Kuric indigenous Australian languages...
which accompanied hunting parties — sometimes they would use fire sticks of various sorts to dazzle a bird in the darkness, stopping it in their tracks and making the capture easier. Cooking was done in a hāngi
Hangi
Hāngi is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven still used for special occasions.To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food on top of the...
or in gourds of boiling oil. The flesh of the bird could be preserved in its own fat and stored in containers for later consumption — hunters of the Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
tribe would pack the flesh in baskets made from the inner bark of Totara tree or in containers constructed from kelp
Kelp
Kelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....
. Bundles of Kakapo tail feathers were attached to the sides of these containers to provide decoration and a way to identify their contents. Also taken by the Māori were the bird's eggs, which are described as whitish "but not pure white", and about the same size as a kererū
Kereru
The New Zealand Pigeon or kererū is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it Kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland...
egg.
As well as eating the meat of the Kakapo, Māori would use Kakapo skins with the feathers still attached or individually weave in Kakapo feathers with flax fibre to create cloaks and capes. Each one required up to 11,000 feathers to make. Not only were these garments very beautiful, they also kept the wearer very warm. They were highly valued, and the few still in existence today are considered taonga
Taonga
A taonga in Māori culture is a treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible. Tangible examples are all sorts of heirlooms and artefacts, land, fisheries, natural resources such as geothermal springs and access to natural resources, such as riparian water rights and access to the riparian zone of...
(treasures) — indeed, the old Māori adage "You have a Kākāpō cape and you still complain of the cold" was used to describe someone who is never satisfied. Kakapo feathers were also used to decorate the heads of taiaha
Taiaha
A Taiaha is a traditional weapon of the Māori of New Zealand.It is a wooden, or sometimes whale bone, close quarters, staff weapon used for short sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts with quick footwork on the part of the wielder. Taiaha are usually between in length...
, but were removed before use in combat.
Despite all, the Kakapo was also regarded as an affectionate pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
by the Māori. This was corroborated by European settlers in New Zealand in the 19th century, among them George Edward Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
, who once wrote in a letter to an associate that his pet Kakapo's behavior towards him and his friends was "more like that of a dog than a bird".
Media
- Video footage from the BBC including Last Chance to SeeLast Chance to See (TV series)Last Chance to See is a wildlife documentary first broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom during September and October 2009. The series is a follow-up of the radio series, also called Last Chance to See in which Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine set out to find endangered animals...
and Wild Down UnderWild Down UnderWild Down Under is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the Australasian continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC Two in September 2003... - Kakapo- Video from April 2003, with footage of Richard-Henry (Kakapo) and Chalky Island, from YouTube
- "Birds of New Zealand – A Rare View" by Rob Morris & Rod Hayden. About 3 Birds: Takahe, Kakapo, Black Robin. Wild South/Natural History Series. TV NZ Enterprises, Auckland /Dunedin 1990. 98 minutes (Kakapo footage from 1982; with rare pictures of Fiordland and Stewart Island)
- "To Save the Kakapo" by Alison Ballance. Wild South Videos, Natural History New Zealand Ltd. Dunedin 1998. (60 minutes, during the 1997 breeding season on Codfish Island)
- Image of pet Kakapo with expedition in 1888.
Further reading
- Ballance, Alison: "Kakapo. Rescued from the brink of extinction" Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson 2010. 216 pages. ISBN 978-1-877517-27-3 (Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered.)
- Eulenpapagei oder Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus). in: Günther Steinig (Hrsg.): Brehms Exotische Vogelwelt. Safari, Berlin ²1963, S.62–71. (Die Darstellung folgt vor allem Beobachtungen frühen Erforschern Neuseelands, wie Julius Haast, Georg Grey und Lyall)
- Jim Rearden: Die letzten Tage des Kakapo. in: Geo-Magazin. Hamburg 1978,2, S.88–102. (über die Erhaltungsbemühungen in Fiordland).
- Vom Leben eines totgesagten Vogels. in: Geo-Magazin. Hamburg 2006,10(Okt.), S.176–180.
- Eulenpapagei. Brummend balzt das letzte Männchen. in: R. L. Schreiber, A. W. Diamond, H. Stern, G. Thielcke (Hrsg.): Rettet die Vogelwelt. O. Maier, Ravensburg 1987, S.198–201. ISBN 3-473-46160-1
- Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
, Mark CarwardineMark CarwardineMark Carwardine is a zoologist who achieved widespread recognition for his Last Chance to See conservation expeditions with Douglas Adams, first aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1990. Since then he has become a leading and outspoken conservationist, and a prolific broadcaster, columnist and...
: Last Chance to SeeLast Chance to SeeLast Chance to See is a 1989 BBC radio documentary series and its accompanying book, written and presented by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. In the series, Adams and Carwardine travel to various locations in the hope of encountering species on the brink of extinction...
. Pan Books, 1990. ISBN 978-0-345-37198-0 - Don V. Merton, Rodney B. Morris, Ian A. E. Atkinson: Lek behaviour in a parrot: the Kakapo Strigops habroptilus of New Zealand. in: The Ibis. Oxford 126.1984.
- David Cemmick, Dick Veitch: Kakapo Country. The Story of the World's most unusual bird. Foreword by David Bellamy. Illustrationen von D. Cemmick. Hodder&Stoughton, Auckland 1987. ISBN 0-340-41647-5
- Rod Morris, Hal Smith: Wild South. Saving New Zealand's Endangered Birds. TVNZ and Century Hutchinson, Auckland 1988. ISBN 1-86941-043-2
- Philip Temple, Chris Gaskin: The Story of the kakapo. Parrot of the Night. Hodder&Stoughton, Auckland 1988. (Pricewinner: Children's Picture Book of the Year Award 1990). ISBN 0-340-51967-3
- Ralph Powlesland: Kakapo Recovery Plan 1989–1994. Published by The Department of Conservation (DoC), Wellington 1989. ISBN 0-478-01114-8
- R. G. Powlesland, A. Roberts, B. D. Lloyd, D. Merton: Number, fate, and distribution of Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) found on Stewart Island, New Zealand 1979–1992. in: New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Wellington 22.1995, 239–248.
- Mary Cresswell, Kakapo Management Group: KAKAPO RECOVERY PLAN 1996–2005. Threatened Species Recovery Plan No. 21. Department of Conservation (DoC), Wellington 1996. ISBN 0-478-01773-1
- Don Merton: Kakapo. in: P. J. Higgins (Hrsg.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Bd 4. RAOU. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1999, 633–646. ISBN 0-19-553071-3
- Tim Higham: The Kakapo of Codfish Island. in: New Zealand Geographic magazine. Auckland 1992,15 (July-Sept.), 30–38.
- Derek Grzelewski: Kakapo. Bird on the brink. in: New Zealand Geographic Magazine. Ohakune 2002, 56 (March–April).
- Gerard Hutching: Back from the Brink. The Fight to Save our Endangered Birds. Penguin Books Publisher, Auckland 2004. ISBN 0-14-301948-1
- A celebration of kakapo. Special Issue of Notornis. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington 53.2006,1.
External links
- World Parrot Trust Parrot Encyclopedia - Species Profiles
- Kakapo Recovery Programme
- TerraNature page on Kakapo
- New Zealand Department of Conservation Kakapo Page
- Rare parrot receives special care - article from BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
News - Start of the Breeding season 2009
- ARKiveARKiveARKive is a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it does by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's species into a centralised digital archive. Its...
- images and movies of the Kakapo - Kakapo in successful return journey (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5ZBDZlnw3)
- Saving Kakapo: an illustrated history by Murray Williams and Don Merton, in: 'Notornis (Journal), vol. 53/1, 2006' Abstract provided by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.
- BBC Wildlife Finder News stories, and clips from the BBC archive
- Interview with NZ conservationists Alison Ballance and the late Don Merton