The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree. Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to […]
Tag: kakapo
Love Island: Rare berry bonanza spurs Kākāpō baby boom
The biggest berry bloom in New Zealand‘s forests in decades has set off a mating frenzy among the critically endangered Kākāpō, the world’s beefiest parrots. With the face of a Muppet and the physique of a Furby, the Kākāpō is an all-around preposterous creature. It’s nocturnal and lime green, and, as science-fiction writer Douglas Adams wrote, […]
“They can stand up to 9 feet tall and weigh over a whopping 24 stone.” 11 bonkers, rule-breaking birds that can’t fly
Wings do not guarantee flight. You may think that the ability to fly might be one of the most envied and useful aspects of being a bird. However, there are numerous bird species which, through evolution, have lost their ability to fly over time. This has happened in different bird groups independently, meaning that flightlessness is a good […]
Critically endangered kākāpō parrot has standout breeding season
A total of 59 healthy kākāpō chicks have hatched over the last few weeks, according to the latest tally by Aotearoa New Zealand‘s Department of Conservation. This marks one of the most successful recent breeding seasons for this critically endangered bird, whose last breeding season was four years ago. The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), a flightless bird […]
World Nature Conservation Day: How a large, flightless parrot rebounded from the verge of extinction
In the mid-1990s, the kākāpō seemed destined for extinction. Only 51 individuals of the flightless, nocturnal parrot remained, all of them descended from a shrinking gene pool and spread across remote corners of New Zealand. A victim of its own evolutionary success, the kākāpō had once flourished in a predator-free island ecosystem. But its defenses—freezing […]
Kakapo Parrot is True Ancient Species of New Zealand, Paleontologists Say
“Our research had prompted a rethink of our native fauna,” said Canterbury Museum’s Dr. Paul Scofield. “Many of the species that we thought of as iconic New Zealand natives — a classic example would be the takahē — we now know are relatively recent blow-ins from Australia, arriving only a few million years ago.” In […]
5 of the Rarest Birds & Where to Find Them
Some of the most magnificent finds in nature are seldom seen, and birds are no exception. There may be more than 10,000 species of our fine feathered friends, but sadly, the number is dwindling. In fact, nearly 1500 bird species are facing extinction. For nature lovers, spotting a rare bird is a joyous experience, and […]