Simple facts
Name: kākāpō (strigops habroptila), also known as the owl parrot
Where it lives: Corafish, Maud, off the coast of New Zealand in Little Barrier Islands
What it eats: Carcapo is vegetarian. Their diet varies depending on the season and includes tubers, fruits, seeds, leaf buds, young plant buds, fungi and moss.
The first thing you notice about Kākāpō is a type of large, non-flying parrot that can only be found in New Zealand – how rounded they are.
They have loving heads and bodies, owl-like faces and sturdy legs, and they are the largest of all modern parrots. Men can be up to 25 inches (64 cm) long and weigh 9 pounds (4 kilograms). Kākāpō is also one of the longest-lived birds in the world, and is estimated to reach 90 years.
The name “Karkapo” means “night parrot” in Maori. This is a reference to the nocturnal habits of birds. Although the Karakapos cannot fly, they are long walks, agile climbers, appearing from the trees and jumping with shortened wings for balance.
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When they feel danger, the karkapoe freezes in place, their spotted emerald green feathers make the birds barely visible against the background of the green forest. The feathers of male carcapo have a distinctive smell that scientists describe as “sweet and nutritional,” and this powerful scent can play a role in male mating success.
The karcapo mating is also unique. Because they are the only parrot species that exhibit what is known as wrecking. Men shape shallow bowl-shaped depression on the ground, creating some stage. They then crouch down in the bowl and use two different sounds to call the woman. A series of low-frequency “booms” sound like a tuba, separated by a high-pitched “chin.” Men may boom and chin for 8 hours, 8 hours, continuous night for 2 or 3 months.
However, when women’s attention is paid, some men are known to direct their affection elsewhere. In 1990, author Douglas Adams wrote about his extraordinary encounter with the arousing carcapo and described it in his book Last Chance to See (Penguin Random House, 1992). The incident occurred while Adams was documenting a segment of a BBC radio programme about endangered species.
“When one of the rangers who worked in a booming Kakapoor area happened to leave his hat on the ground,” Adams wrote.
Scientists working at Kakapo have created rubber “ejaculation helmets” to accommodate Kakapo, known for trying to mate with people’s heads. The helmet had a recessed surface, suitable for collecting sperm for use in artificial insemination.
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Birds breed once every 2-4 years, when local rim trees produce berry-rich crops. These fruits are rich in calcium and vitamin D, and are rich in essential nutrients to spawn eggs and nourish the growing chicks.
Karkapoeh flourished for tens of millions of years in New Zealand, where there were no natural predators. However, when Polynesian people arrived about 700 years ago, the number of birds began to decline. When Europeans colonized New Zealand in the early 1800s, their decline accelerated. With the deforestation and the introduction of mammal predators such as rats, cats and stoats, the carcapo was at risk of extinction, and by the 1900s they were all gone.
However, in the 1970s, conservationists discovered a breeding population of around 200 birds. For decades, they worked to protect Karkapoor, secure a future, and move to the three islands they live in today (and where all invasive carnivorous animals were eradicated). Currently, there are around 242 karakapos in the wild, and they are perceived as critically at risk for extinction.
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