Wild Fact #868 – Polly Want A Defense Mechanism? – Kakapo
We keep talking about species of Australia and I feel bad for the beautiful country just south east of Australia. I am of course talking about New Zealand! It looks like a great place to find intriguing animals yet it seems like we hardly talk about it. Today is going to change all of that as we are going to discuss the Kakapo which in the wild is only found in New Zealand.
Oh, so what is a Kakapo! Well, obviously it is a bird! Didn’t you look at the picture above? Okay, I will stop being a smart alec. The kakapo is a flightless, nocturnal parrot. In fact it is the largest species of Parrot in the world, weighing between 2-4 kg (4.5-9 lbs). It is the only parrot species that I know of which is flightless and nocturnal. This is a very interesting bird.
Unfortunately, the kakapo is critically endangered with only 125 living birds left in the wild. The kakapo use to flourish in New Zealand since they didn’t have to worry about mammalian predators back in the day. Without having any predators, the kakapo had no need to evolve any self-defense mechanisms. The absence of these mammalian predators may also be the reason why this particular bird evolved to be flightless. There was just no need for them to worry about being eaten. Once mammals starting being introduced to the islands of New Zealand, these defenseless birds were no match for the predators. I guess you could say it was like taking candy from a baby. Today, efforts have been made to transfer some of these endangered but maginificent bird species to islands lacking mammalian predators. The way I see it is that those 120 birds had better find a shortcut to evolution if they want to remain living in this world.
Well folks, today was just a quick Fact about the Kakapo. I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you again tomorrow.
