Well, Kakapo is not the name of a specific bird, but it is one of the largest species of parrots around the globe. The moment you lay your eyes upon these birds, you fall in love with them, even though they scare you at first. An average adult kakapo grows to 60 centimeters in height, which is quite tall. It is, in fact, the heaviest species of parrots on Earth. However, there’s something that it misses due to its heavy weight – kakapo is one of the few species of birds that are unable to fly.
Sad, isn’t it?
The Kakapo:
This beautiful bird is native to New Zealand’s forests; except for these forests, these lovely creatures are not found anywhere else in the whole world. This is because the forests of New Zealand have only a few mammals to hunt down these birds, thanks to which they have survived, despite being ground birds.
Even though a kakapo can’t fly, it attracts you to its beautiful texture, color and charm.
To the local tribes, kakapo’s existence travels back into the tales and folklore. The native individuals hunt kakapo for its delicious meat and lovely feathers. The local tribesmen also use the flesh of these beautiful birds to make clothes.
It is because of such barbarous acts of the local individuals that the fearful birds rushed in the wild, right from the start of 2009.
The Scared Birds:
Since kakapos are defenseless birds, they are being hunted by cats, rats and stouts, along with the natives. This is one of the reasons why the birds are going extinct.
If you want to know about the appearance of this gorgeous bird, let me tell you that it has short wings, which are anyway of no use because it can’t fly. However, the bird uses its wings to balance itself and also to hop onto the trees. The only time you notice the wings of this bird is when it jumps from a tree and lands on the ground. The bird has scaly feet with two toes pointing forward and two toes pointed backwards.
Talking of the head and beak of the bird, they are just like an owl’s. To your surprise, the bird breeds only when there’s plenty of food around it and thus, the reproduction process of kakapo is quite slow.
Nonetheless, the bird’s quite a delight to the eyes.
References : wikipedia, wired, a-z-animals
