Only 123 Kakapo Parrots left on earth...

The Kakapo parrot is a very unique species, endemic to New Zealand. It has a large grey beak, short legs, large feet and a relatively short tail. It is the heaviest of all parrots (they are up to 60 cm. long and weigh up to 3.5 kilograms) and it's one of the world's longest living birds, since they live for up to 60 years. One of the basic features that makes them unique is that they do not fly. The Kakapo parrots live, feed and breed on the ground. Their basic food preferences include flowers, leaves, seeds, roots and buds.

Bill the Kakapo - Photo by Tristan Rawlence (from Kakapo Recovery)

The Kakapo parrots are critically endagered, since as of February 2010 there are only 123 birds left on the planet. Once New Zealand had thousands of individuals from that species and they had no natural predators. When the first Polynesian people moved to the island (a couple thousand years ago) they started to chop down the forests where the Kakapo parrots lived and to hunt down the animals. 150 years ago, when the first Europeans arrived in New Zealand, they introduced the first predators to the Kakapo parrots, which included cats, rats, dogs and ferrets, which killed the parrots easily. By 1889 demand for its stuffed skin in Europe increased drastically due to the bird's unique shape and form, leading to a dramatical decrease of the parrot's population.

A Kakapo on a nest (from Kakapo Recovery)


Today, there are teams, who work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, trying to rescue the species from extinction. Today the Kakapo parrots are kept in two islands - the Codfish Island and the Anchor Island - both of which are free of predators. The team's aim is to increase the bird's population to 150 adult females. However, there is no predator-free island capable of holding more than 100 individuals, which is a major difficulty for the team to succeed successful breeding of the species.

Feeding a Kakapo parrot (from Nature's Corner Magazine)

If you would like to learn more on Kakapo parrots, to donate for the the project of the Kakapo parrot, or even to volunteer for it, please visit http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/. Also, you can buy a spectacular documentary film on the Kakapo parrot, which has won 8 Awards in 3 different film festivals and conventions, entitled "The Unnatural History of the Kakapo" by Elwin Productions on http://www.elwin.co.nz/prjkakapo.html.



Sources:

Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakapo
Kakapo Recovery - http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/
The Fabulous Kakapo - http://www.kakapo.net/en/
The Unnatural History of the Kakapo (Elwin Productions) - http://www.elwin.co.nz/prjkakapo.html
Nature's Corner Magazine - http://www.naturescornermagazine.com/index.html