kakapos

Uniquely among parrots, kakapos are lek breeders, with males booming out loud calls from suitable topographical hollows, and these calls can be heard from about 1 km away.

Archive 2006-05-01 Darren Naish 2006

Distinctively ‘chewed’, compressed fragments of vegetation hang from the plants adjacent to these trails, and kakapos leave both compact cylindrical droppings and white traces of uric acid on the trails.

Archive 2006-05-01 Darren Naish 2006

Consequently, as is well known, kakapos have become extinct on the mainland and only survive on managed offshore islands where introduced rats and other predators have been eliminated (Vietmeyer 1992, Clout 2001).

Archive 2006-05-01 Darren Naish 2006

This worked fine in a New Zealand where there were lots of podocarps and lots of kakapos (and indeed fossils show that kakapos were formerly abundant), but environmental destruction caused by humans meant that kakapos were forced into suboptimal areas where life was even harder than before.

Archive 2006-05-01 Darren Naish 2006

'Now that New Zealand is riddled with predators of all kinds,' said Mark, ` the only possible refuge for kakapos is on islands - and protected islands at that.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990

Arab had himself tracked many of the twenty-five kakapos that had been found on Stewart Island and airlifted by helicopter in soundproof boxes to Codfish.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990

It is certainly the reason why so many people have devoted their lives to protecting the likes of rhinos, parakeets, kakapos and dolphins.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990

The kiwis, the takahes - and the old night parrots, the kakapos.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990

It's not very pleasant, but that's how the island was originally, and that's the only way kakapos can survive - in exactly the environment that New Zealand had before man arrived.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990

I asked Dobby if they had given names to the kakapos on the island, and he instantly came up with four of them: Matthew, Luke, John and Snark.

Last Chance to See Adams, Douglas, 1952- 1990