PLIGHT, OF KAKAPO DRAWS ATTENTION IN U.K., U.S.

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 18

PLIGHT, OF KAKAPO DRAWS ATTENTION IN U.K., U.S.

The decline of the Kakapo is the subject of a note entitled “Last call for the New Zealand night parrots” in the “New Scientist"

“Andreas Reischek, the German naturalist was astonished by what he saw in the moonlight of the Southern Alps,” says the article. “A procession of large parrots stalked grotesquely through the snow. They were ghostly green in colour. They moved on, one behind the other, stopping only to peck at occasional roots or berries, during the day the male parrots rolled a melancholy call across the Alpine valleys. Explorers said it sounded somewhat like the boom of a bitten and could be heard for a distance of five or six miles.

“That was in 1884. Today, the Kakapos (Strigops habroptilus) survive only in the most remote valleys of Fiordland. As Dal Stivens notes in a review of the species in “Animal World,” the bulletin of the New York Zoological Society, few creatures could be more defenceless against a host of animals which have been introduced into New Zealand. Introduced parasites and disease may also have contributed to the Kakapos’ decline. They may have been on the way out, as the flightless moas were, even before man came to New Zealand. What is clear is that 80 years ago their numbers were reasonably good and today the species is on the verge of extinction.

“Little is known about the natural history of the kakapos, and many accounts have to be disentangled from facts about kakas and keas. Although their breast-bone keels are almost non-existent,

it is doubtful whether the kakapos should be ranked among the truly flightless birds. After they have climbed trees in search of food they can glide to earth on their stumpy wings. They are also said to be able to travel quickly downhill by alternately running and gliding. “The kakapos seem to have no innate fear of man, but sit still and look up at their captors with wonderment.

They usually make no attempt to escape and some-

times appear to fall asleep after an uneasy mutter or two. “Four birds captured by the Wildlife Branch of the Internal Affairs Department soon died in captivity; they became listless and seemed to lose all interest in everything, even the desire to eat. A fifth bird is still alive and very active although it only emerges in the dark. All other birds seem to be terrified of it. An adjacent kingfisher fled in panic and killed itself against the wire of the enclosure. The Wildlife Branch has decided against further captures, but has started a series of field studies in Fiordland.”