{"id":2190844,"date":"2026-05-02T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190844"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:25:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:25:50","slug":"love-island-rare-berry-bonanza-spurs-kakapo-baby-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/love-island-rare-berry-bonanza-spurs-kakapo-baby-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Island: Rare berry bonanza spurs K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d baby boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest berry bloom in New Zealand\u2019s forests in decades has set off a mating frenzy among the\u00a0critically endangered K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d, the world\u2019s beefiest parrots.<\/p>\n

With the face of a Muppet and the physique of a Furby, the K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d is an all-around preposterous creature. It\u2019s nocturnal and lime green, and, as science-fiction writer Douglas Adams wrote, it \u201cflies like a brick.\u201d The animals produce a strong, fruity musk, can weigh as much as a house cat, and can potentially live for 90 years or more.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of 2026 only 236 K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d remained in the world, and to the chagrin of their human conservation team, the birds rely primarily on a single fruit to set the mood for love. The animals mate prolifically only when the rimu tree\u2014a towering conifer that can live for a millennium\u2014produces a bumper crop of bright-red berries, which happens every two to four years.<\/p>\n

During the berry-backed courtship rituals, male K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d use their stumpy little legs to scrape and stomp out earthen amphitheaters called booming bowls, which amplify their courtship song\u2014a resonant, low-pitched call that carries for miles. \u201cRather than hearing it, you kind of feel it in the chest,\u201d says Andrew Digby, science adviser for the K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d team at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.<\/p>\n

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K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d on her nest. Andrew Digby\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Nearly all female K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d of reproductive age have bred this year, Digby says, producing an impressive 248 eggs and counting. About half of the eggs will be fertile. Fewer will hatch, and fewer still will survive long enough to fledge. As of mid-March, scientists had tallied 70 living chicks.<\/p>\n

Recent population gains wouldn\u2019t have been possible without a handful of K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d \u201csuperbreeders\u201d like Blades, a K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Don Juan of unknown age who, after fathering 22 chicks since 1982, has been banished to \u201cBachelor Island\u201d for fears that he\u2019ll flood the gene pool. \u201cHe was a victim of his own success,\u201d Digby says. \u201cHe was too popular.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Preparing to weigh a one-day-old chick. Lydia Uddstrom\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Once the fortunate eggs hatch, the females will rear their chicks alone. Every night K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d moms use beak and talon to climb into the rimu tree canopies, up to 100 feet above the ground, to harvest berries\u2014about a pound\u2019s worth per chick each day. Some females have reproduced for more than 40 years, creating strong \u201cdynasties,\u201d Digby says. One K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d matriarch named Nora has participated in 13 breeding cycles since 1981 and became both a mom and a great-great-grandmother this season.<\/p>\n

This year the New Zealand Department of Conservation set up a nest cam to let people\u00a0watch K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d supermom Rakiura\u00a0hatch and rear foster chicks, fending off nest intruders that include shorebirds and bats. Although Rakiura is only 24 years old, she has successfully raised nine of her own chicks and fostered many more for less experienced females. Newly hatched chicks look like dandelion puffs, but within a few weeks they become \u201cweird little dinosaurs with these huge, oversize feet,\u201d Digby says.<\/p>\n

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\"A
One-day-old K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d chick during a health check. Lydia Uddstrom\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The team hopes enough chicks will survive this year to bring the world K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d population to 300\u2014a major milestone for a species that was teetering with just 51 individuals in 1995. The flightless birds were easy pickings for invasive predators, including house cats, dogs and weasel-like stoats\u2014the fruity eau de K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d is pungent enough that even humans can track them by scent. The K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d found sanctuary on three predator-free islands where the Ng\u0101i Tahu people act as\u00a0kaitiaki<\/i>, or \u201ccaretakers,\u201d of the birds. \u201cIt\u2019s a\u00a0taonga<\/i>\u00a0species, a treasure to us,\u201d says T\u0101ne Davis, who has been the Ng\u0101i Tahu\u2019s representative in K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d conservation for 20 years.<\/p>\n

The K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d population has outgrown these refuges, and the pressure is on to \u201crestore the\u00a0mauri<\/i>, or \u2018life force,\u2019 of the habitat\u201d on larger islands by\u00a0removing the invasive predators there, Davis says. The 2026 breeding cycle represents a new era for the K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d, Davis and Digby agree. At the Ng\u0101i Tahu\u2019s request, some of the chicks born this year won\u2019t be named. \u201cIt\u2019s about letting them have their lives back in the wild,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n

This article\u00a0<\/a><\/em>by Elizabeth Anne Brown was first published by Scientific American on 4 March\u00a0 2026. Lead Image: Rare K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d have distinctive looks and unusual reproductive requirements. Nature Picture Library\/Alamy Stock Photo.
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