The Kakopo and Humans History
The kakapo parrot, their scientific name; Strigops habroptila is a land dwelling flightless bird that lives in the secluded islands of New Zealand. They are an animal that would not be alive today without the assistance of humans. But with that said, their population would not have diminished in such a short amount of time as it had if humans had not hunted them or taken and destroyed their habitats. With this said, there is evidence shown from subfossils that the Kakapo population had started to decrease before any human contact was made.
Europeans clear cut forests that these peculiar birds lived in and started farming and bred sheep. The population of rabbits on the island had grown tremendously in these feilds where the Europeans kept their sheep. A mistake we know to be horrific for an environment was made by these settlers, they introduced a foreign predator to attempt to control the rabbit population. Stoats, ferrets and weasles were brought into these feilds only to prefer the taste of the native Kakapo and other birds over the rabbits. The Kakapo fled high up in the mountains to avoid these new predators. Luckily the kakapo are able to survive nearly anywhere in the rain forest where they have a food supply.
The end of the kakapo species looked like it was coming to and end until Richard Henry saved these creatures from their near conclusion by transfering them to islands where their predators were few. Unfortunately, stoats when very hungry will do just about anything to get food, even if that means swimming from one island to another. Richard Henry`s efforts were not all in vain though, today scientists are working to keep this odd species alive just as Henry had and are taking steps to build the stability of the population of the endangered kakapo bird.
A documentary further explaining the research of the kakapo as an effort to aid this species is "The Unnatural History of the Kakapo"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KagOPIWHec. Some of the main points in this video are; 11:00, 18:00, 23:40, 28:20, 29:00, 40:00.
Richard Henry the man who saved the kakapo and the kakapo named after him;
Europeans clear cut forests that these peculiar birds lived in and started farming and bred sheep. The population of rabbits on the island had grown tremendously in these feilds where the Europeans kept their sheep. A mistake we know to be horrific for an environment was made by these settlers, they introduced a foreign predator to attempt to control the rabbit population. Stoats, ferrets and weasles were brought into these feilds only to prefer the taste of the native Kakapo and other birds over the rabbits. The Kakapo fled high up in the mountains to avoid these new predators. Luckily the kakapo are able to survive nearly anywhere in the rain forest where they have a food supply.
The end of the kakapo species looked like it was coming to and end until Richard Henry saved these creatures from their near conclusion by transfering them to islands where their predators were few. Unfortunately, stoats when very hungry will do just about anything to get food, even if that means swimming from one island to another. Richard Henry`s efforts were not all in vain though, today scientists are working to keep this odd species alive just as Henry had and are taking steps to build the stability of the population of the endangered kakapo bird.
A documentary further explaining the research of the kakapo as an effort to aid this species is "The Unnatural History of the Kakapo"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KagOPIWHec. Some of the main points in this video are; 11:00, 18:00, 23:40, 28:20, 29:00, 40:00.
Richard Henry the man who saved the kakapo and the kakapo named after him;
Basic Information about the Kakapo
Lives: New Zealand Islands
Life Span: Can live to be nearly 100, but the current Kakapo are not reaching such ages, usually now into their 40`s
Eats: Prefers the Rimu Tree fruit but will eat many different nuts or berries
Nests: dig shallow bowls in the forest floor and often chew off shrubs around it for more space
Breeds: Does not always breed every year, the females are very finicky while the males are extremely and nearly entirely sex driven
Offspring: A mother Kakapo has 1 to 4 eggs and raises them on her own
Offspring survival rate: low, the genetic pool in which the kakapo have now is not as strong as scientists would like to see, the most preferable male birds have some of the worst genes to give and their offspring are becoming ill more frequently
Species: Parrot
Personality: will approach people, but not in the presence of humans it wanders the forest floor alone
Diurnal or Nocturnal: Nocturnal
Smell: A very distinct musky smell, humans and other animals can easily smell it
Appearance: Green with plush feathers, easilly camofloushes into the forest floor
Noises: Skraarks and Booms
Population: 129 known
Life Span: Can live to be nearly 100, but the current Kakapo are not reaching such ages, usually now into their 40`s
Eats: Prefers the Rimu Tree fruit but will eat many different nuts or berries
Nests: dig shallow bowls in the forest floor and often chew off shrubs around it for more space
Breeds: Does not always breed every year, the females are very finicky while the males are extremely and nearly entirely sex driven
Offspring: A mother Kakapo has 1 to 4 eggs and raises them on her own
Offspring survival rate: low, the genetic pool in which the kakapo have now is not as strong as scientists would like to see, the most preferable male birds have some of the worst genes to give and their offspring are becoming ill more frequently
Species: Parrot
Personality: will approach people, but not in the presence of humans it wanders the forest floor alone
Diurnal or Nocturnal: Nocturnal
Smell: A very distinct musky smell, humans and other animals can easily smell it
Appearance: Green with plush feathers, easilly camofloushes into the forest floor
Noises: Skraarks and Booms
Population: 129 known
New Zealand and the Kakapo
New Zealand has made the Kakapo its national bird, with one bird in particular as its international star, Sirocco. This bird is a figurehead for conservation. When Sirocco was in his first month after birth he caught a respiritory illness and as a result grew up with humans as they aided him back to health. Sirocco shows no interest in other kakapo and only makes his skraarking (to find out what skraarking is check out the 'kakapo behaviours page') when humans are present. Although Sirocco prefers to be around humans, he is not living in captivity.
Though Sirocco is an icon for his promotion of conservation there are also some contraversies behind this funny bird just like any celebrity has theirs. In one instance Sirocco attempts to mate with a zoologist, lesson learned, when visiting a human prefering kakapo, don't wear green.
Sirocco is also involved in the social media movement for conservation, you can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook. Those kakapos are sure social birds!
Use these links or the icons below to see what Sirocco is up to;
Sirocco`s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo
Sirocco on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Spokesbird
Sirocco`s controversial video;
Though Sirocco is an icon for his promotion of conservation there are also some contraversies behind this funny bird just like any celebrity has theirs. In one instance Sirocco attempts to mate with a zoologist, lesson learned, when visiting a human prefering kakapo, don't wear green.
Sirocco is also involved in the social media movement for conservation, you can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook. Those kakapos are sure social birds!
Use these links or the icons below to see what Sirocco is up to;
Sirocco`s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo
Sirocco on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Spokesbird
Sirocco`s controversial video;