Kakapo — Flightless Parrot

Kakapo, also called owl parrot, Maori: Kakapo, night parrot, Strigops habroptilus, is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea, endemic to New Zealand. Kakapo size and length: Kakapo reaches 60 cm and has very soft feathers (see the 8th photo), is greenish-yellow on the abdomen and moss-green with black stripes on the back, and is the heaviest in the world, weighing up to 3.5 kilograms or 8 lbs.

Kakapo

Owl Parrot

The name 'owl parrot' comes from its plumage; the front part of the head resembles that of an owl, and the feathers in this area form a disc shape. Kakapo's voice was like a hoarse croak, sometimes turning into squeals. These parrots cannot fly and can only glide, covering a distance of 20-30 metres in the air. So naturally, the kakapo parrot mostly lives on land, hiding in burrows during the day and evening and out searching for food at night. Owl parrots are vegetarians that eat berries and juicy plants.

In 1845, English ornithologist George Robert Grey originally described the Kākāpō, the night parrot. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek Strix, genitive strigose "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 tribe, Strigopini. Recent phylogenetic studies have confirmed the unique position of this genus as well as the closeness to the Kaka and the Kea, both belonging to the New Zealand flightless parrot genus Nestor.

Together, they are now considered a separate family within the parrots, Strigopidae. Within the Strigopidae, the kakapo is placed in its tribe, Strigopini. The common ancestor of the kakapo bird and the genus Nestor became isolated from the remaining parrot species when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana around 82 million years ago. Approximately 70 million years ago, the kakapo birds diverged from the genus Nestor. [Face Book]

First Image credit: Oliver Seiler

Kakapo parrot

Image credit: Oliver Seiler

Flightless parrot of New Zealand

The flightless New Zealand parrot lives in an island country that had virtually no mammals living on it for millions of years. It was a place inhabited by birds and reptiles. The only types of mammals were two species of bats. The Kakapo bird of New Zealand did not learn the defence mechanisms to combat or escape from mammalian predators. Kakapo's scientific name is Strigops habroptilus. These factors made the parrot owl very vulnerable when new animals started showing up. The arrival of Polynesian peoples thousands of years ago, of Europeans in the 1800s, and ultimately the pets and livestock they brought with them resulted in the massive decline of Kakapo populations from hundreds of thousands to a mere handful of birds.

Flightless parrot

Image credit: Oliver Seiler

The flightless parrot of New Zealand, the kakapo, builds nests in crevices of rocks or rotten stumps of old trees. In January-February, the females lay two eggs. They are an endangered species currently listed in the Red Book. The development of the islands of New Zealand brought new predators – cats and rats, which were significant enemies of the owl parrot. New Zealand Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) has sponsored the kakapo recovery programme since 1990. Scientific research and operational support have provided a stronger foundation for the recovery of the kakapo, one of the world's rarest parrots. Once common throughout the three main islands of New Zealand, there are now approximately 62 Kakapo left. These remaining birds have been relocated to six predator-free island habitats, where the birds are relatively safe and have been breeding!