Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
The kakapo is a critically endangered flightless parrot in New Zealand. Last month, they started breeding for the first time in four years, the country’s government conservation department said.
Only 236 of the round green parrots remain. They live in three breeding populations on New Zealand’s remote southern islands.
That includes 83 females of breeding age. Scientists hope they will hatch the most chicks this year since records began.
“It’s always exciting when the breeding season officially begins. But this year, it feels especially long-awaited after such a big gap since the last season in 2022,” said Deidre Vercoe. She is the kakapo recovery operations manager at the Department of Conservation.
Some scientists believe these are the heaviest parrot species. They may have the longest lifespan of any bird (see graphic).
The Department of Conservation and the indigenous Maori tribe Ngai Tahu launched the Kakapo Recovery Programme in 1995.
At the time, the population of 51 birds was at serious risk of extinction. By 2022, numbers returned to 252. But over the past four years, 16 birds died.
This mating season is the 13th in the past 30 years. Kakapo breed every two to four years.
“Kakapo are still critically endangered. So we’ll keep working hard to increase numbers,” Vercoe said.
“But looking ahead, chick numbers are not our only measure of success,” she said. “We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kakapo that are thriving, not just surviving.”
Vercoe said the programme aimed to reduce its “hands-on management” so the birds could survive naturally.
Tane Davis is a Ngai Tahu representative on the recovery programme. Davis said it was hoped that kakapo would one day thrive throughout New Zealand’s South Island.
