Kakapo: The Modern-Day Dinosaur

This blog talks about an animal which most of the people are not even aware of yet. It’s about a magnificent modern day dinosaur like bird that is in the process of being resurrected from extinction. It’s one of the most unique birds of all, both in terms of its personality and physical characteristics. But don’t you want to know which bird I am talking about or how did this bird fall to the verge of extinction?

About Kakapo

The bird I am talking about is known as the Kakapo. Kakapo is the world’s heaviest parrot and also the only flightless parrot. It is known as the Owl Parrot because of its soft feathers and a prominent facial disc of fine feathers, like an owl but unlike owls that dwell in and on tress, Kakapo is a ground dwelling bird and lives in natural cavities or within heavy vegetations. They are endemic to New Zealand which means that they are only found in specific parts of New Zealand and no where else on the entire planet. They are usually active at night and live their lives alone which shows that these birds are nocturnal and solitary respectively.

Another interesting fact about Kakapo is that unlike most of the flightless birds whose wings are of no practical use, Kakapo uses its wings to balance itself while climbing trees, they are said to be excellent climbers. The Kakapo is also the only parrot to have a polygynous lek breeding system. In the lek breeding system a group of male Kakapo gather in an area, remove all the plants and make shallow bowls in the ground. All, the males then make different sounds and puff up their chests to attract females. Each male builds up their own ‘track and bowl system’ which is a display arena for them and it can sometimes stretch over 200 meter. This is known as lek which is after a Swedish word meaning ‘play’.

These bowls act as resonating chambers so that their voice reaches far away. They may keep making these sounds all night, every night for even three to five months till they find their partner to mate . Among Kakapo usually a number of females choose a single male to mate. Here, the male only acts as a medium to provide sperms for the next generation and play no role in the rearing of the chicks. The female raises her chicks alone.

Threats facing Kakapo

Today, Kakapo is critically endangered. The total known population is only 202 reported by the Kakapo Recovery Program. Since, Kakapo is an endemic species, if at all it disappears from the parts of New Zealand it is found now, it will vanish from the face of the planet.

Kakapo holds a historical significance to the Maori, who were the indigenous people of New Zealand. Even in those times Kakapo was heavily poached for its meat for consumption and also for its feathers which were used to make valuable pieces of clothing.

With the introduction of predators such as cats, rats, ferrets and stoats during the British Colonization period, Kakapo were almost wiped out. Today while the adults are vulnerable to predators like cats and stouts, even the eggs are not safe as they are eaten away by rats.

As the females have to spend larger intervals of time away from the nest to feed themselves, it leaves the eggs unattended thus giving an opportunity to animals like rats to fill up their bellies. While searching for food Kakapo can also be attacked by their predators and as a defence mechanism when they feel threatened, they stand still or freeze themselves in order to camouflage with the surroundings. Now this technique might work most of the times in case of birds who rely more on their sight to hunt but it might not always work in case of mammals like cats who rely more on their smell to hunt.

Conservation measures

Conservation efforts began in the 1890s, but they were not very successful until the implementation of the Kakapo Recovery Program in 1995. Currently the Kakapo population is held only on three predator free islands namely Whenua Hou, Anchor Island and Hauturu. All the individuals are named and tagged to keep a check on them. Also, all the new born Kakapo chicks are raised in a secure facility and later released into the wild, tagged with a transmitter. Each parrot also has its nest fitted with motion sensors and cameras, and is given a measured diet with the help of a nearby feeding station. Investigators are continuously asked to monitor the activities of all the tagged Kakapo individuals.

Three reasons why Kakapo conservation is really hard is, first, because of lack of awareness, as most of the people are still not aware of a bird like Kakapo to exist. The second reason is their reproduction cycle, as Kakapo only breeds every two to four years when rimu trees produce a bumper crop of fruit in New Zealand. This is known as a ‘mast year’. The third reason is that even when they do mate, less than 50 percent of the eggs are fertile. And this has made the authorities to use the process of artificial insemination to revive back the critically endangered population.

This blog was only about a single species that the authorities of New Zealand are recklessly working to revive back and have done a commendable job till now. It shows what it takes to revive a species almost back from extinction. We can’t afford this to happen with any other species, it not only leads to a huge monetary burden on the concerned authorities but can also lead to an environmental imbalance which can be far more severe. As its rightly said, “Prevention is better than cure”, so lets come together to save Kakapo and the other species of wildlife before they fall prey to our self- centered needs.