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The region of New Zealand is home
to a small yet unique species of parrots that due to
a long period of being cut-off have acquired
specialized habits. This group has endured much as a
consequence of pressures produced by the nation's
comparatively recent occupation by humans, first by
Polynesians, subsequently succeeded by Europeans.
Because of destruction and change of habitats and
the entry of competitors and predators, the parrots
together with several other endemic species of New
Zealand, have vanished from a lot of their previous
range. |
These species are today found in drastically less numbers or
survive only as protected colonies in areas which are
isolated such as predator-free, small islands.
There are 6 indigenous parrot species in New Zealand, these
are the Kea, Kakapo, Kaka, Red-crowned Kakariki, Antipodes
Island Parakeet, and Yellow-crowned Kakariki.
To be sure, the Kakapo is the strangest parrot in the world
and today, one of the most rare. It places as being one of
the oldest and specialized species of parrot. Regrettably
these very attributes have added to its unfitness to adjust
to the large number of environmental forces brought on by
Western settlement.
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The Kakapo had once been a wide-ranging bird over
both main islands, but had in all probability
started to decline, at least on the North Island,
before the arrival of the European settlers in the
first part of the 1800s. The consequences of massive
forest and bush clearance together with the quick
dissemination of a wide array of predators such as
cats, dogs, mustelids, and rats, resulted in a rapid
decrease in the number of Kakapo and by the middle
of the 1900s, the species was almost wiped out. One
of the main reasons the Kakapo buckled under to
these forces so quickly was because of their
flightless plight. They are the world’s only
flightless parrot and are capable only of gliding
from branch to land. Their tree-living activities
are limited to scrambling about in the forest like
possums, and breeding always occurs at or just below
ground level, leaving both parents, young and eggs
extremely vulnerable to predators. |
The world’s only true alpine parrot is the Kea and its
distribution is limited to the high country and alps of the
South Island. Its eerie sounds reverberate about the exposed
bluffs and solitary rock canyons which are its preferred
haunts, frequently well above the tree-lined, snow covered
region below. The Kea is a drab, big, olive-green colored
parrot almost the same in overall shape, but of a heavier
weight, to the Long-billed Corella.
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Similar to the Corellas, the Kea also has a long
thin beak suited for digging into the ground to draw
out roots, shoots, and bulbs. Keas are well adjusted
to the extreme environment and climate in which they
occupy, being self-seekers, feeding upon everything
from plant matter to scavenging off dead animals.
The Kea’s smaller relative is the less famous Kaka,
which is basically drab, brown colored parrot nearly
the shape and size of a Glossy Black Cockatoo with
the same powerful, heavy bill suitable for splitting
into wood in search of grubs, insects, and other
invertebrates.
North Island are found on
its slopes. |
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