Kakapo
4.
1. Physical attribute
2. Habitant
3. Niche
Why kakapo is considered to endangered animal?
5. How kakapo is saved
6. Reflection
Ryomei hattori, eruka haramoto, sayuri yamaguchi, kannna tajima
Kakapo
Scientific name:
Strigops habroptilus
Group: Bird
Size: ～3.6 inches (60cm)
Feather Colour: moss-green
Habitat: New Zealand
Kakapo is endangered bird in New Zealand. In New Zealand forest, there were no natural enemies except mighty
eagles which have already gone extinct. Therefore, Kakapo is active at night when eagles are sleeping and they have come
to live on land without flying. It made their foot stronger and they put on fat. This is why they can’t fly. Now Kakapo has
become the heaviest parrot in the world. New Zealand Nature Conservation Bureau made a shelter on the small island
and leave Kakapo loose there.
They grow to
over 4kg!
Male kakapos cry in a strange call. They make a very deep booming call and a loud wheezing call to do courtship.
Both sexes cry in loud and high pitch. You can listen to “booming” HERE.
They take kindly to people. Besides, they
sometimes make advances to human. You
can watch the scene of it HERE.
Kakapos can’t fly, but they can climb a
tree. Their wing is used in order to jump
down from the tree like a parachute.
Booming kakapo
Courting kakapo
Eating Habits
They usually eat plants, seeds, fruits and pollens.
They occasionally eat insects and invertebrates.
Predators
Long time ago, there were no natural predators but humans arriving to islands made the
situation worse. New Zealand had no mammals. The only predators for Kakapo were giant
eagles which were extinct long time ago.
When European arrived 150 years ago, the situation became worse. Making farms, they brought
such as ferrets, cats, stoats, rats, and dogs which easily killed Kakapo. Since they lived for many
years without mammals, Kakapos are not used to avoiding their enemies.
In 1845, the first Kakapo was found by European and bird found to be tasty food. Tourists also
shot kakapos as well. It is also rumored that Kakapos were Maori people’s principal food until
the production of Kumara (kind of potatoes).
Kakapos are found in the North and South island of New Zealand. Their predators were not in
these islands before but not now. Kakapos are vulnerable since they do not run or fight
predators. These are the one of the reasons why Kakapos are in danger now.
We, humans can be the reason that makes Kakapo endangered.
Section2
◆Why is this species on the endangered list?
Once there were millions of kakapos in the North, South,
and Stewart Island of New Zealand, but its population has
decreased gradually. In the end, there are only about 62 that
kakapo left on the planet now. That’s why it is considered
endangered.
◆What factors caused this species to be endangered?
There is not mammal that lives on the island lived birds of New Zealand for millions of years. So, kakapo
did not learn the defense mechanism to combat or escape mammalian predators, and kakapo also can’t fly to
escape quickly. These made kakapo very vulnerable to attack when new animals started to appear.
◆Is it natural or is it because of man?
When Polynesians immigrated to New Zealand thousands of years ago, they were hunting kakapo, and
also brought the Polynesian rat, kiore, as well as various mammals. So, this is the start of its number of
dropping.
Europeans immigrated there 150 years ago, and they brought predators such as ferrets, cats, stoats, rats,
and dogs which killed the kakapo easily. But the kakapo didn’t know the situation that they would be killed
by the mammals because they had never been in such situation. This immigration brought the kakapo to the
brink of extinction. In short, it is because of man.
◆Does it have something to do with food or any other resource availability?
The Maori people valued kakapo’s skins. Some cloaks were made from kakapo’s feathers, and they are
also used to fill mattresses and pillows.
It was in 1845 that the first kakapo was found by a European. Since then, kakapo has been known as a
very tasty meal, so the people started to slaughter the birds. During the gold rush of the 1860-70s, diggers
feed on kakapo, and tourist also ate them.
As I have already noted, there were many cause of being endangered. So, it is very difficult to solve this
problem, but I believe that there are some better ways.
●Reference
http://www.kakapo.net/en/
How Kakapos were saved by the people?
In 1989, the group named Kakapo Recovery Plan that helps the
Kakapo was established. First, they moved Kakapo to adopted
place. Richard Treacy Henry, New Zealand conservationist,
was appointed as caretaker by government. He noticed that
Kakapo decreased, so he began to move Kakapo and Kiwi to the
predator-free Resolution Island to protect them. As a result,
he succeeded in moving 200 Kakapos for six years. But, stoat
came to this island and they killed all the Kakapos within
six years. Although, in 1903, three Kakapos were moved from
Resolution Island to Little Barrier Island which is nature reserve, we weren’t able to observe them.
In 1912, three Kakapos were moved to Kapiti-island. Wild cat lived there too, but only one Kakapo
was able to survive until 1936. While the people around the world wasn’t interested in Kakapo because
of world war Ⅰand world crisis, the number of Kakapo was decreasing.
By 1920’S the Kakapo lived in northern island became extinct, and the
number of Kakapo lived in southern island rapidly decreasing. The range
of living Kakapo was narrowed. The only island Kakapo was able to live
was Fiordland. During 1930’S they were seen and heard their call,
however they were caught and eaten by hunters and climbers. After 1940,
the report about Kakapo wasn’t got published.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakapo
Reflection
K
akapo is rare bird. This bird is endangered animal because men hunted them for fun
or the other reason. I think it is selfish reason for killing animals. Any type of animal is living
such as mole cricket. So, we don’t have the right to kill any animal and take their house by force.
If kakapos extinct, the food chain would completely change. It means almost all animals would
be influenced including humans. Have we thought this problem seriously? I think almost all
people haven’t thought about this problem. However there are the people who consider this
problem and try to do something to save kakapo. They moved kakapo to other island. This was
hard work, I think. It might cost much money and spent much time. Did he or she were given
money for this or is it just his or her job? May be “no”. He or she was volunteers and they just
want kakapos to live.
What I learned though this article is helping each other. We are helped by animal in terms
of food. We can live because we can eat meat, pork and chicken. So, we have to do something to
nature instead of being given their life. The earth is not only for us, humans, but also for wild
animals. And also, we don’t forget about our living with nature. If we faced problems, we have
to solve them to advance to. (Kanna Tajima)
P
eople are now saying that Kakapos are in danger of extinct. Before I read these
articles about Kakapo, I wasn’t really interested in endangered animals. However, after reading
this, I noticed that because of what humans did long time ago, animals are in danger now. This
can be seen not only Kakapo but also other animals. There are of course many biological
reasons but humans did horrible things to animals in old days, such as killing animals for their
cloths and for collecting. It’s okay to wear animal’s leather but we can wear fake leather instead
of killing animals. Some people like to collect stuffed specimen of animals. There is no need to
stuff animals. Instead of this, they look at animals which are alive. It is more interesting to see
how animals act naturally.
To save endangered animals, just knowing that animals are in danger is not enough, but
humans have to rethink about what we are doing to animals. Be kind to animal’s life. (Erika
Haramoto)
I
searched about reason why kakapo endangered, and I knew the serious actual
conditions of kakapo. One of the most astonishing fact is there are only about 62 that kakapo
left on the planet now. That was far beyond my imagination, so I was very shocked. In addition,
kakapo can’t fly, and they have not learned how to escape and how to fight because there were
not any mammals in New Zealand in the past. This is the most serious problem of kakapo. And
I feel a responsibility as a person for the cause of kakapo being endangered because human
caused it. So, I know it is difficult to solve the problem, but I will never give up.
This problem is not easy, so it takes a long time to solve. In other word, we should take a
long-term view. And it is impossible to increase the number of the kakapo soon, so we should
keep the number by protecting and training so that the kakapo can escape and fight. (Sayuri
Yamaguchi)
F
irstly I thought kakapos are very weird, because they are very fat for parrot. However, I
came to love them after researching the bird. They can’t fly because of their fatness, they love
human, and their calls called booming is very low tone. These strange characteristic addicted me.
Now kakapo’s population is increasing at a good rate, and it reached 124 in 2012, but it is not
enough. Therefore, New Zealand government still should be care about them, and take new
measures to protect them. We also should do something to recovery. I did not know this
endangered bird until conduct research about it, so there are a lot of endangered animals all
over the world. We should probably be more careful about these species. I would like to know
these animals I do not know yet. It is us that caused the diminishing kakapos, so it is us that
have to recovery them.( Ryomei Hattori)