Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

Strigops habroptila - The Kakapo

Kakapos have the smallest relative wing size of any parrot, and are also the heaviest parrots out there. Unlike other ground-dwelling birds, they actually have the ability to store fat for future use, and this has given them a quite rotund shape overall. Even in lean times, the kakapo is a huge bird, and did quite well for itself before humans arrived. Even before European colonists landed on the South Island of New Zealand, the native Maori used kakapo feathers (which are incredibly soft, as they don't need to sustain flight) and kakapo meat at a rate that was unsustainable for a continuing population. However, the rate of decline during that period was relatively slow - though the kakapo would have eventually been hunted out, it was not in any immediate threat.

Unfortunately for the great owl parrot, their musky smell and lack of defenses made them easy targets for newly introduced predators and hunters, and the population crashed so quickly that the Kakapo was one of the first animals to have a conservation plan put into place to try and stop the decimation of the masses. Though the conservation plans helped keep the birds safe from humans, the introduced dogs, cats, ferrets, and rats, all continued to wreak havoc.

Today, there are only 127 living kakapos, and their continued survival is far from assured. Their evolutionary history and unique physiology and behavior (not to mention their very important cultural position in Ngai Tahu society) make their possible extinction that much more important to try and prevent.

A History of the Birds of New Zealand. W.L. Buller, 1888.

Strigops habroptilus - The Kakapo

Kakapos are some of the goofiest animals out there, and sadly, one of the most endangered, too. Also known as the owl parrot and night parrot, they lost their power of flight long ago, and as is too often the case, were nearly wiped out by settlers and their introduction of dogs, cats, ferrets, and stoats. Since the kakapo had evolved without a fear of those animals, their natural boldness wound up getting many of them eaten by the invasive species - and that's not even counting the fact that they were apparently "delicious".

The kakapo (one named Sirocco, specifically) is the bird that attempted to mate with Mark Carwardine's head in the remake of "Last Chance to See", with Stephen Fry. If you haven't seen the clip yet, it's fantastic. "You've been shagged by a rare parrot!"

The Zoology of the Voyage of the HMS Erebus & Terror From 1839-1843. John Richardson and John Edward Gray, 1845.

Kakapo.

....a kakapo....on a branch? The critically endangered kakapo is actually a completely flightless bird. If you look up "Kakapo" and "Last Chance to See" on YouTube, you can see one (Sirocco, specifically) shag Mark Carradine's head. :D