You may have already come across this fantastic clip of a beautiful, very confused, critically endangered parrot circulating the interwebs:
Yes, this fellow is cute and funny, but more importantly, the video provides reason to tell the rest of his story.
The Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) is the fattest, largest, and rarest species of parrot on earth. It is a flightless, nocturnal bird that lives on four offshore islands near New Zealand. Estimates vary, but according to the BBC, there are only 90 left on Earth (after numbers have increased over past decades). The Kakapo feeds on leaves, nectar, fruit, stems, roots, and seeds, and breeds just once every two-five years. I hope, despite the title of this television series, this is not our ‘last chance to see‘ this incredible animal.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I wonder if it taste like chicken. If they were considered a food source, no doubt they would be much more abundant.
October 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
There is a hilarious chapter of the kakapo in Douglas Adam’s book “Last Chance to See” … I have read this particular chapter about a dozen times, and I still laugh out loud.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:23 am
There’s actually 124 Kakapo alive today. All of them have names, as there’s so few of them.