Pura, a 1-year-old Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) on Codfish Island.
The Lowdown
The kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) is the world’s only flightless, heaviest, and most eccentric parrot. Reaching weights of up to nine pounds, this nocturnal New Zealand native evolved in the total absence of mammalian predators, replacing powered flight with powerful hiking legs that allow it to march miles across mountain ridges each night.
Its feathers are an intricate tapestry of mossy greens and golds that blend seamlessly into the forest floor, and its body emits a distinct sweet, pleasant honey-musk scent. When alarmed, its primary defense mechanism is to freeze completely rigid, trusting its optical camouflage to become an invisible mossy boulder.
Biological Fact: Kakapos can live for over 90 years, making them one of the longest-living bird species on Earth.
During breeding seasons that occur only once every several years when rimu trees produce massive fruit crops, males dig shallow acoustic bowl depressions on hilltops. Inflating enormous thoracic air sacs, they produce deep resonant subsonic “booms” reaching under 100 Hertz that reverberate across valleys for over three miles to serenade females.
