The kÃÂkÃÂpà  (; : ; Strigops habroptilus), sometimes known as the owl-parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand.
KÃÂkÃÂpà  can be up to long. They have a combination of unique traits among parrots: finely blotched yellowâÂÂgreen plumage, a distinct facial disc, owl-like forward-facing eyes with surrounding discs of specially textured feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large blue feet, relatively short wings and a short tail. It is the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, and also is nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate, and does not have male parental care. It is the only parrot to have a polygynous lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a reported lifespan of up to 100 years. Adult males weigh around ; the equivalent figure for females is .
The anatomy of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  typifies the tendency of bird evolution on oceanic islands. With few predators and abundant food, kÃÂkÃÂpà  exhibit island syndrome development, having a generally robust torso physique at the expense of flight abilities, resulting in reduced shoulder and wing muscles, along with a diminished keel on the sternum. Like many other New Zealand bird species, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was historically important to MÃÂori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. It appears in MÃÂori mythology. Largely hunted in the past, it was used by the MÃÂori both for its red meat and for its feathers.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is critically endangered; the total known population of living individuals is Known individuals are named, tagged and confined to four small New Zealand islands, all of which are clear of predators; however, in 2023, a reintroduction to mainland New Zealand (Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari) was accomplished. Introduced mammalian predators, such as cats, rats, ferrets, and stoats almost wiped out the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â. All conservation efforts were unsuccessful until the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery Programme began in 1995.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  was formally described and illustrated in 1845 by the English ornithologist George Robert Gray. He created a new genus and coined the binomial name . Gray was uncertain about the origin of his specimen and wrote, "This remarkable bird is found in one of the islands of the South Pacific Ocean." The type location has been designated as Dusky Sound on the southwest corner of New Zealand's South Island. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek , genitive ("owl"), and ("face"), while its specific epithet comes from ("soft"), and ("feather").
In 1955 the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ruled that the genus name was feminine. Based on this ruling many ornithologists used the form Strigops habroptila but in 2023 James L. Savage and Andrew Digby argued that under the current ICZN rules the specific epithet should be habroptilus. This view was accepted by ornithologists and in 2024 the International Ornithological Congress Checklist and the eBird/Clements Checklist changed the spelling of the binomial name back to Strigops habroptilus. The species is monotypic, as no subspecies are recognised.
The name is MÃÂori, from ("parrot") + ("night"); the name is both singular and plural. "KÃÂkÃÂpà Â" is increasingly written in New Zealand English with the macrons that indicate long vowels. The correct pronunciation in MÃÂori is ; other colloquial pronunciations exist, however. These include the British English (), as defined in the Chambers Dictionary in 2003.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is placed in the family Strigopidae together with the two species in the genus Nestor, the kea () and the kÃÂkà(). The birds are endemic to New Zealand. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the family Strigopidae is basal to the other three parrot families in the order Psittaciformes and diverged from them 33âÂÂ44 million years ago. The common ancestor of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  and the two Nestor species diverged 27âÂÂ40 million years ago.
Earlier ornithologists felt that the kÃÂkÃÂpà  might be related to the ground parrots and night parrot of Australia due to their similar colouration, but this is contradicted by molecular studies; rather, the cryptic colour seems to be adaptation to terrestrial habits that evolved twice convergently.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is a large, rotund parrot. Adults can measure from in length with a wingspan of . Males are significantly heavier than females with an average weight of compared with just for females. KÃÂkÃÂpà  are the heaviest living species of parrot and on average weigh about more than the largest flying parrot, the hyacinth macaw.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  cannot fly, having relatively short wings for its size and lacking the keel on the sternum (breastbone), where the flight muscles of other birds attach. It uses its wings for balance and to break its fall when leaping from trees. Lighter females are able to perform short glides across gaps in the canopy. Unlike many other land birds, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  can accumulate large amounts of body fat.
The upper parts of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  have yellowish moss-green feathers barred or mottled with black or dark brownish grey, blending well with native vegetation. Individuals may have strongly varying degrees of mottling and colour tone and intensity â museum specimens show that some birds had completely yellow colouring. The breast and flank are yellowish-green streaked with yellow. The belly, undertail, neck, and face are predominantly yellowish streaked with pale green and weakly mottled with brownish-grey. Because the feathers do not need the strength and stiffness required for flight, they are exceptionally soft, giving rise to the specific epithet habroptila. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  has a conspicuous facial disc of fine feathers resembling the face of an owl; thus, early European settlers called it the "owl parrot". The beak is surrounded by delicate feathers which resemble vibrissae or "whiskers"; it is possible kÃÂkÃÂpà  use these to sense the ground as they walk with their head lowered, but there is no evidence for this. The mandible is variable in colour, mostly ivory, with the upper part often bluish-grey. The eyes are dark brown. KÃÂkÃÂpà  feet are large, scaly, and, as in all parrots, zygodactyl (two toes face forward and two backward). The pronounced claws are particularly useful for climbing. The ends of the tail feathers often become worn from being continually dragged on the ground.
Females are easily distinguished from males as they have a narrower and less domed head, narrower and proportionally longer beak, smaller cere and nostrils, more slender and pinkish grey legs and feet, and proportionally longer tail. While their plumage colour is not very different from that of the male, the toning is more subtle, with less yellow and mottling. Nesting females also have a brood patch of bare skin on the belly.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà Â's altricial young are first covered with greyish white down, through which their pink skin can be easily seen. They become fully feathered at approximately 70 days old. Juvenile individuals tend to have duller green colouration, more uniform black barring, and less yellow present in their feathers. They are additionally distinguishable because of their shorter tails, wings, and beaks. At this stage, they have a ring of short feathers surrounding their irises that resembles eyelashes.
Like many other parrots, kÃÂkÃÂpà  have a variety of calls. As well as the booms (see below for a recording) and chings of their mating calls, they will often loudly skraark.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  has a well-developed sense of smell, which complements its nocturnal lifestyle. It can distinguish between odours while foraging, a behaviour reported in only one other parrot species. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  has a large olfactory bulb ratio (longest diameter of the olfactory bulb/longest diameter of the brain) indicating that it does, indeed, have a more developed sense of smell than other parrots. One of the most striking characteristics of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  is its distinct musty-sweet odour. The smell often alerts predators to the presence of kÃÂkÃÂpà Â.
As a nocturnal species, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  has adapted its senses to living in darkness. Its optic tectum, nucleus rotundus, and entopallium are smaller in relation to its overall brain size than those of diurnal parrots. Its retina shares some qualities with that of other nocturnal birds but also has some qualities typical of diurnal birds, lending to best function around twilight. These modifications allow the kÃÂkÃÂpà  to have enhanced light sensitivity but with poor visual acuity.
The skeleton of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  differs from other parrots in several features associated with flightlessness. Firstly, it has the smallest relative wing size of any parrot. Its wing feathers are shorter, more rounded, less asymmetrical, and have fewer distal barbules to lock the feathers together. The sternum is small and has a low, vestigial keel and a shortened spina externa. As in other flightless birds and some flighted parrots, the furcula is not fused but consists of a pair of clavicles lying in contact with each coracoid. As in other flightless birds, the angle between the coracoid and sternum is enlarged. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  has a larger pelvis than other parrots. The proximal bones of the leg and wing are disproportionately long and the distal elements are disproportionately short.
The pectoral musculature of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  is also modified by flightlessness. The pectoralis and supracoracoideus muscles are greatly reduced. The propatagialis tendo longus has no distinct muscle belly. The sternocoracoideus is tendinous. There is an extensive cucularis capitis clavicularis muscle that is associated with the large crop.
Because kÃÂkÃÂpà  passed through a genetic bottleneck, in which their world population was reduced to 49 birds, they are extremely inbred and have low genetic diversity. This manifests in lower disease resistance and infertility problems: 61% of kÃÂkÃÂpà  eggs fail to hatch. Beginning in 2015, the KÃÂkÃÂpà  125+ project has sequenced the genome of all living kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, as well as some museum specimens. The project is a collaboration led by Genomics Aotearoa and a collaboration with a team of international collaborators.
A DNA sequence analysis was performed on 35 kÃÂkÃÂpà  genomes of the surviving descendants of an isolated island population, and on 14 genomes, mainly from museum specimens, of the now extinct mainland population. An analysis of the long-term genetic impact of small population size indicated that the small island kÃÂkÃÂpà  population had a reduced number of harmful mutations compared to the number in mainland individuals. It was hypothesised that the reduced mutational load of the island population was due to a combination of genetic drift and the purging of deleterious mutations through increased inbreeding and purifying selection that occurred since the isolation of this population from the mainland about 10,000 years ago. Purging of deleterious mutations occurs when there is selection against recessive or partially recessive detrimental alleles as they are expressed in the homozygous state.
Before the arrival of humans, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was widely distributed throughout both main islands of New Zealand. Although it may have inhabited Stewart Island before human arrival, it has not been found in the extensive fossil collections from there. KÃÂkÃÂpà  lived in a variety of habitats, including tussocklands, scrublands and coastal areas. It also inhabited forests dominated by podocarps (rimu, mataë, kahikatea, tà Âtara), beeches, tawa, and rÃÂtÃÂ. In Fiordland, areas of avalanche and slip debris with regenerating and heavily fruiting vegetation â such as five finger, wineberry, bush lawyer, tutu, hebes, and coprosmas â became known as "kÃÂkÃÂpà  gardens".
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is considered to be a "habitat generalist". Though they are now confined to islands free of predation, they were once able to live in nearly any climate present on the islands of New Zealand. They survived dry, hot summers on the North Island as well as cold winter temperatures in the sub-alpine areas of Fiordland. KÃÂkÃÂpà  seem to have preferred broadleaf or mountain beech and Hall's tà Âtara forest with mild winters and high rainfall, but the species was not exclusively forest-dwelling.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is primarily nocturnal; it roosts under cover in trees or on the ground during the day and moves around its territories at night.
Though the kÃÂkÃÂpà  cannot fly, it is an excellent climber, ascending to the crowns of the tallest trees. While climbing, it frequently using its wings for balance. It can also "parachute" â descending by leaping and spreading its wings; in this way it may travel a few metres at a steep downward angle of less than 45 degrees. Lighter females can perform short glides across gaps of 3âÂÂ4 m.
With only 3.3% of its mass made up of pectoral muscle, it is no surprise that the kÃÂkÃÂpà  cannot use its wings to lift its heavy body off the ground. Because of its flightlessness, it has very low metabolic demands in comparison to flighted birds. It is able to survive easily on very little or on very low quality food sources. Unlike most other bird species, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  is entirely herbivorous, feeding on fruits, seeds, leaves, stems, and rhizomes. When foraging, kÃÂkÃÂpà  tend to leave crescent-shaped wads of fibre in the vegetation behind them, called "browse signs".
Having lost the ability to fly, it has developed strong legs. Locomotion is often by way of a rapid "jog-like" gait by which it can move several kilometres. A female has been observed making two return trips each night during nesting from her nest to a food source up to away and the male may walk from its home range to a mating arena up to away during the mating season (OctoberâÂÂJanuary).
Young birds indulge in play fighting, and one bird will often lock the neck of another under its chin. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is curious by nature and has been known to interact with humans. Conservation staff and volunteers have engaged extensively with some kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, which have distinct personalities. Despite this, kÃÂkÃÂpà  are solitary birds.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  was a very successful species in pre-human New Zealand, and was well adapted to avoid the birds of prey which were their only predators. As well as the New Zealand falcon, there were two other birds of prey in pre-human New Zealand: Haast's eagle and Eyles' harrier. All these raptors soared overhead searching for prey in daylight, and to avoid them the kÃÂkÃÂpà  evolved camouflaged plumage and became nocturnal. When a kÃÂkÃÂpà  feels threatened, it freezes, so that it is more effectively camouflaged in the vegetation its plumage resembles. KÃÂkÃÂpà  were not entirely safe at night, when the laughing owl was active, and it is apparent from owl nest deposits on Canterbury limestone cliffs that kÃÂkÃÂpà  were among their prey.
KÃÂkÃÂpà  defensive adaptations were no use, however, against the mammalian predators introduced to New Zealand by humans. Birds hunt very differently from mammals, relying on their powerful vision to find prey, and thus they usually hunt by day. Mammalian predators, in contrast to birds, often hunt by night, and rely on their sense of smell and hearing to find prey; a common way for humans to hunt kÃÂkÃÂpà  was by releasing trained dogs. Frederick Hutton, in his 1912 book The Animals of New Zealand, described the kakapo's behaviour thus:<blockquote>Its intelligence commands respect, and its helplessness sympathy, while its genial nature endears it to all who know it well. It repays kindness with gratitude, and is as affectionate as a dog, and as playful as a kitten.</blockquote>
KÃÂkÃÂpà  are the only flightless bird that has a lek breeding system. Males loosely gather in an arena and compete with each other to attract females. Females listen to the males as they display, or "lek". They choose a mate based on the quality of his display; they are not pursued by the males in any overt way. No pair bond is formed; males and females meet only to mate.
During the courting season, males leave their home ranges for hilltops and ridges where they establish their own mating courts. These leks can be up to from a kÃÂkÃÂpà Â's usual territory and are an average of apart within the lek arena. Males remain in the region of their court throughout the courting season. At the start of the breeding season, males will fight to try to secure the best courts. They confront each other with raised feathers, spread wings, open beaks, raised claws and loud screeching and growling. Fighting may leave birds with injuries or even kill them. Mating occurs roughly every two to four years in years of heavy rimu fruiting. In mating years, males may make "booming" calls for 6âÂÂ8 hours every night for more than four months.
Each court consists of one or more saucer-shaped depressions or "bowls" dug in the ground by the male, up to deep and long enough to fit the half-metre length of the bird. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is one of only a handful of birds in the world which actually constructs its leks. Bowls are often created next to rock faces, banks, or tree trunks to help reflect sound: the bowls themselves function as amplifiers to enhance the projection of the males' booming mating calls. Each male's bowls are connected by a network of trails or tracks which may extend along a ridge or in diameter around a hilltop. Males meticulously clear their bowls and tracks of debris.
To attract females, males make loud, low-frequency (below 100Hz) booming calls from their bowls by inflating a thoracic sac. They start with low grunts, which increase in volume as the sac inflates. After a sequence of about 20 loud booms, the male kÃÂkÃÂpà  emits a high-frequency, metallic "ching" sound. He stands for a short while before again lowering his head, inflating his chest and starting another sequence of booms. The booms can be heard at least away on a still night; wind can carry the sound at least .
Females are attracted by the booms of the competing males; they too may need to walk several kilometres from their territories to the arena. Once a female enters the court of one of the males, the male performs a display in which he rocks from side to side and makes clicking noises with his beak. He turns his back to the female, spreads his wings in display and walks backwards towards her. He will then attempt copulation for 40 minutes or more. Once the birds have mated, the female returns to her home territory to lay eggs and raise the chicks. The male continues booming in the hope of attracting another female.
The female kÃÂkÃÂpà  lays 1âÂÂ4 eggs per breeding cycle, with several days between eggs. The nest is placed on the ground under the cover of plants or in cavities such as hollow tree trunks. The female incubates the eggs beginning after the first egg is laid, but is forced to leave the nest every night in search of food. Predators are known to eat the eggs, and the embryos inside can also die of cold in the mother's absence. KÃÂkÃÂpà  eggs usually hatch within 30 days, bearing fluffy grey chicks that are quite helpless. The female feeds the chicks for three months, and the chicks remain with the female for some months after fledging. The young chicks are just as vulnerable to predators as the eggs, and young have been killed by many of the same predators that attack adults. Chicks leave the nest at approximately 10 to 12 weeks of age. As they gain greater independence, their mothers may feed the chicks sporadically for up to 3 months.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is long-lived, with an average life expectancy of 60 (plus or minus 20) years, and tends to reach adolescence before it starts breeding. Males start booming at about 5 years of age. It was thought that females reached sexual maturity at 9 years of age, but four five-year-old females have now been recorded reproducing. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  does not breed every year and has one of the lowest rates of reproduction among birds. Breeding occurs only in years when trees mast (fruit heavily), providing a plentiful food supply. Rimu mast occurs only every three to five years, so in rimu-dominant forests, such as those on Whenua Hou, kÃÂkÃÂpà  breeding occurs infrequently.
Another aspect of the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â's breeding system is that a female can alter the sex ratio of her offspring depending on her condition. A female in good condition produces more male offspring (males have 30%âÂÂ40% more body weight than females). Females produce offspring biased towards the non-dispersive sex (females) when competition for resources (such as food) is high and towards the dispersive sex (males) when food is plentiful. A female kÃÂkÃÂpà  will likely be able to produce eggs even when there are few resources, while a male kÃÂkÃÂpà  will be more capable of perpetuating the species when there are plenty, by mating with several females. This supports the TriversâÂÂWillard hypothesis. The relationship between clutch sex ratio and maternal diet has conservation implications, because a captive population maintained on a high quality diet will produce fewer females and therefore fewer individuals valuable to the recovery of the species.
The beak of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  is adapted for grinding food finely. For this reason, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  has a very small gizzard compared to other birds of their size. It is entirely herbivorous, eating green shoots, leaf buds, rhizomes and tubers of native plants, as well as seeds, fruits, pollen, moss, fungi and even the sapwood of trees. A study in 1984 identified 25 plant species as kÃÂkÃÂpà  food. It is specifically fond of the fruit of the rimu tree, and will feed on it exclusively during seasons when it is abundant. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  strips out the nutritious parts of the plant with its beak, leaving a ball of indigestible fibre. These little clumps of plant fibres are a distinctive sign of the presence of the bird. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is believed to employ bacteria in the fore-gut to ferment and help digest plant matter.
KÃÂkÃÂpà  diet changes according to the season. The plants eaten most frequently during the year include some species of Lycopodium ramulosum, Lycopodium fastigium, Schizaea fistulosa, Blechnum minus, Blechnum procerum, Cyathodes juniperina, Dracophyllum longifolium, Olearia colensoi and Thelymitra venosa. Individual plants of the same species are often treated differently. KÃÂkÃÂpà  may forage heavily in certain areas, leaving, on occasion, more than 30 droppings and conspicuous evidence of herbivory. These areas, which are mostly dominated by mÃÂnuka and yellow silver pine, range from 100 â 5,000 sq. metres (1,076 â 53,820 sq. feet) per individual.
Preserved coprolites of kÃÂkÃÂpà  have been studied to obtain information on the historic diet of the bird. This research has identified 67 native plant genera previously unrecorded as food sources for kÃÂkÃÂpà  including native mistletoes as well as Dactylanthus taylorii.
Fossil records indicate that in pre-Polynesian times, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was New Zealand's third most common bird and it was widespread on all three main islands. However, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  population in New Zealand has declined massively since human settlement of the country, and its conservation status as ranked by the Department of Conservation continues to be "Nationally Critical". Since the 1890s, conservation efforts have been made to prevent extinction. The most successful scheme has been the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery Programme; this was implemented in 1995 and continues to this day. KÃÂkÃÂpà  are absolutely protected under New Zealand's Wildlife Act 1953. The species is also listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meaning international export/import (including parts and derivatives) is regulated.
The first factor in the decline of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was the arrival of humans. MÃÂori folklore suggests that the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was found throughout the country when the Polynesians first arrived in New Zealand 700 years ago. Subfossil and midden deposits show that the bird was present throughout the North, South and Stewart Island before and during early MÃÂori times. MÃÂori hunted the kÃÂkÃÂpà  for food and for their skins and feathers, which were made into cloaks.
Due to its inability to fly, strong scent and habit of freezing when threatened, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was easy prey for the MÃÂori and their dogs. Its eggs and chicks were also preyed upon by the Polynesian rat or kiore, which the MÃÂori brought to New Zealand as a stowaway. Furthermore, the deliberate clearing of vegetation by MÃÂori reduced the habitable range for kÃÂkÃÂpà Â. Although the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was extinct in many parts of the islands by the time Europeans arrived, including the Tararua and Aorangi Ranges, it was still in the central North Island and forested parts of the South Island.
Although kÃÂkÃÂpà  numbers were reduced by MÃÂori settlement, they declined much more rapidly after European colonisation. Beginning in the 1840s, PÃÂkehàsettlers cleared vast tracts of land for farming and grazing, further reducing kÃÂkÃÂpà  habitat. They brought more dogs and other mammalian predators, including domestic cats, black rats and stoats.
In the 1880s, large numbers of mustelids (stoats, ferrets and weasels) were released in New Zealand to reduce rabbit numbers, but they also preyed heavily on many native species including the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â. Other browsing animals, such as introduced deer, competed with the kÃÂkÃÂpà  for food, and caused the extinction of some of its preferred plant species. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  was reportedly still present near the head of the Whanganui River as late as 1894, with one of the last records of a kÃÂkÃÂpà  in the North Island being a single bird caught in the Kaimanawa Ranges by Te Kepa Puawheawhe in 1895.
In 1891, the New Zealand government set aside Resolution Island in Fiordland as a nature reserve. In 1894, the government appointed Richard Henry as caretaker. A keen naturalist, Henry was aware that native birds were declining, and began catching and moving kÃÂkÃÂpà  and kiwi from the mainland to the predator-free Resolution Island. In six years, he moved more than 200 kÃÂkÃÂpà  to Resolution Island. By 1900, however, stoats had swum to Resolution Island and colonised it; they wiped out the nascent kÃÂkÃÂpà  population within 6 years.
In 1903, three kÃÂkÃÂpà  were moved from Resolution Island to the nature reserve of Little Barrier Island (Hauturu-o-Toi) north-east of Auckland, but feral cats were present and the kÃÂkÃÂpà  were never seen again. In 1912, three kÃÂkÃÂpà  were moved to another reserve, Kapiti Island, north-west of Wellington. One of them survived until at least 1936, despite the presence of feral cats for part of the intervening period.
By the 1920s, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was extinct in the North Island and its range and numbers in the South Island were declining.
In the 1950s, the New Zealand Wildlife Service was established and began making regular expeditions to search for the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, mostly in Fiordland and what is now the Kahurangi National Park in the northwest of the South Island. Seven Fiordland expeditions between 1951 and 1956 found only a few recent signs. Finally, in 1958 a kÃÂkÃÂpà  was caught and released in the Milford Sound / Piopiotahi catchment area in Fiordland. Six more kÃÂkÃÂpà  were captured in 1961; one was released and the other five were transferred to the aviaries of the Mount Bruce Bird Reserve near Masterton in the North Island. Within months, four of the birds had died and the fifth died after about four years. In the next 12 years, regular expeditions found few signs of the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, indicating that numbers were continuing to decline. Only one bird was captured in 1967; it died the following year.
By the early 1970s, it was uncertain whether the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was still an extant species. At the end of 1974, scientists located several more male kÃÂkÃÂpà  and made the first scientific observations of kÃÂkÃÂpà  booming. These observations led Don Merton to speculate for the first time that the kÃÂkÃÂpà  had a lek breeding system. From 1974 to 1978 a total of 18 kÃÂkÃÂpà  were discovered in Fiordland, but all were males. This raised the possibility that the species would become extinct, because there might be no surviving females. One male bird was captured in the Milford area in 1975, christened "Richard Henry", and transferred to Maud Island. All the birds the Wildlife Service discovered from 1951 to 1976 were in U-shaped glaciated valleys flanked by almost-vertical cliffs and surrounded by high mountains. Such extreme terrain had slowed colonisation by browsing mammals, leaving islands of virtually unmodified native vegetation. However, even here, stoats were present and by 1976 the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was gone from the valley floors and only a few males survived high on the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs.
Before 1977, no expedition had been to Stewart Island to search for the bird. In 1977, sightings of kÃÂkÃÂpà  were reported on the island. An expedition to Rakiura found a track and bowl system on its first day; soon after, it located several dozen kÃÂkÃÂpà Â. The finding in an area of fire-modified scrubland and forest raised hope that the population would include females. The total population was estimated at 100 to 200 birds.
Mustelids have never colonised Stewart Island, but feral cats were present. During a survey, it was apparent that cats killed kÃÂkÃÂpà  at a rate of 56% per year. At this rate, the birds could not survive on the island and therefore an intensive cat control was introduced in 1982, after which no cat-killed kÃÂkÃÂpà  were found. However, to ensure the survival of the remaining birds, scientists decided later that this population should be transferred to predator-free islands; this operation was carried out between 1982 and 1997.
In the 1980s the kÃÂkÃÂpà  were translocated to islands with no predators to maintain their genetic diversity, to avoid spreading harmful diseases, and to reduce interbreeding.
In 1989, a KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery plan was developed, and a KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery programme was established in 1995. The New Zealand Department of Conservation replaced the Wildlife Service for this task.
The first action of the plan was to relocate all the remaining kÃÂkÃÂpà  to suitable islands for them to breed. None of the New Zealand islands were ideal to establish kÃÂkÃÂpà  without rehabilitation by extensive re-vegetation and the eradication of introduced mammalian predators and competitors. Four islands were finally chosen: Maud, Little Barrier, Codfish and Mana. Sixty-five kÃÂkÃÂpà  (43 males, 22 females) were successfully transferred onto the four islands in five translocations. Some islands had to be rehabilitated several times when feral cats, stoats and weka kept appearing. Little Barrier Island was eventually viewed as unsuitable due to the rugged landscape, the thick forest and the continued presence of rats, and its birds were evacuated in 1998. Along with Mana Island, it was replaced with two new kÃÂkÃÂpà  sanctuaries: Chalky Island (Te KÃÂkahu-o-Tamatea) and Anchor Island. The entire kÃÂkÃÂpà  population of Codfish Island was temporarily relocated in 1999 to Pearl Island in Port Pegasus while rats were being eliminated from Codfish. All kÃÂkÃÂpà  on Pearl and Chalky Islands were moved to Anchor Island in 2005.
A key part of the Recovery Programme is the supplementary feeding of females. KÃÂkÃÂpà  breed only once every two to five years, when certain plant species, primarily Dacrydium cupressinum (rimu), produce protein-rich fruit and seeds. During breeding years when rimu masts supplementary food is provided to kÃÂkÃÂpà  to increase the likelihood of individuals successfully breeding. In 1989, six preferred foods (apples, sweet potatoes, almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds and walnuts) were supplied ad libitum each night to 12 feeding stations. Males and females ate the supplied foods, and females nested on Little Barrier Island in the summers of 1989âÂÂ1991 for the first time since 1982, although nesting success was low.
Supplementary feeding affects the sex ratio of kÃÂkÃÂpà  offspring, and can be used to increase the number of female chicks by deliberately manipulating maternal condition.
Today commercial parrot food is supplied to all individuals of breeding age on Whenua Hou and Anchor. The amount eaten and individual weights are carefully monitored to ensure that optimum body condition is maintained.
KÃÂkÃÂpà  nests are intensively managed by wildlife conservation staff. Before Polynesian rats were removed from Whenua Hou, the rats were a threat to the survival of young kÃÂkÃÂpà Â. Of 21 chicks that hatched between 1981 and 1994, nine were either killed by rats or died and were subsequently eaten by rats.
All kÃÂkÃÂpà  islands are now rat-free, but infrared cameras still allow rangers to remotely monitor the behaviour of females and chicks in nests. Data loggers record when mother kÃÂkÃÂpà  come and go, allowing rangers to pick a time to check on the health of chicks, and also indicate how hard females are having to work to find food. Because mother kÃÂkÃÂpà  often struggle to successfully rear multiple chicks, KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery rangers will move chicks between nests as needed.
Eggs are often removed from nests for incubation to reduce the likelihood of accidents, such as lost eggs or crushing. If chicks become ill, are not putting on weight, or there are too many chicks in the nest (and no available nest to move them to) they will be hand-reared by the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery team. In the 2019 season, eggs were also removed from nests to encourage females to re-nest. By hand-raising the first group of chicks in captivity and encouraging females to lay more eggs, the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery Team hoped that overall chick production would be increased. By the end of February 2020, the bird's summer breeding season, these efforts led to the production of 80 chicks, "a record number."
To monitor the kÃÂkÃÂpà  population continuously, each bird is equipped with a radio transmitter. Every known kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, barring some young chicks, has been given a name by KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery Programme officials, and detailed data is gathered about every individual. GPS transmitters are also being trialled to provide more detailed data about the movement of individual birds and their habitat use. The signals also provide behavioural data, letting rangers gather information about mating and nesting remotely. Every individual kÃÂkÃÂpà  receives an annual health check and has their transmitter replaced.
The KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery programme has been successful, with the numbers of kÃÂkÃÂpà  increasing steadily. Adult survival rate and productivity have both improved significantly since the programme's inception. However, the main goal is to establish at least one viable, self-sustaining, unmanaged population of kÃÂkÃÂpà  as a functional component of the ecosystem in a protected habitat. To help meet this conservation challenge, Resolution Island () in Fiordland has been prepared for kÃÂkÃÂpà  re-introduction with ecological restoration including the eradication of stoats. Ultimately, the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery vision for the species is to restore the (MÃÂori for "life-force") of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  by breeding 150 adult females.
Four males were re-introduced to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in the North Island on 21 July 2023, becoming the first kÃÂkÃÂpà  living in mainland New Zealand in almost 40 years. Despite extensive improvements to the perimeter fence, in October 2023, one of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  escaped by using a downed tree to climb out. The bird was located using the signal from its GPS transmitter and returned to the sanctuary. A second group of six birds was introduced to the sanctuary in September. However, two further kÃÂkÃÂpà  found a way over the fence, and in November the Department of Conservation temporarily removed three birds from the sanctuary to a southern predator-free island, leaving the kÃÂkÃÂpà  population in the sanctuary at seven. The Department commented that "KÃÂkÃÂpà  are flightless but are excellent climbers who can use their wings to parachute from treetops".
In 2019 an outbreak of the fungal disease aspergillosis among kÃÂkÃÂpà  on the island of Whenua Hou infected 21 individuals and led to 9 deaths: two adults, five chicks and two juveniles. Over 50 birds were transported to veterinary centres for diagnostics and treatment.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  is associated with a rich tradition of MÃÂori folklore and beliefs. The bird's irregular breeding cycle was understood to be associated with heavy fruiting or "masting" events of particular plant species such as the rimu, which led MÃÂori to credit the bird with the ability to tell the future. Used to substantiate this claim were reported observations of these birds dropping the berries of the hinau and tawa trees (when they were in season) into secluded pools of water to preserve them as a food supply for the summer ahead; in legend this became the origin of the MÃÂori practice of immersing food in water for the same purpose.
The MÃÂori considered the meat of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  a delicacy and, when the bird was widespread, hunted it for food. One source states that its flesh "resembles lamb in taste and texture", although European settlers have described the bird as having a "strong and slightly stringent [sic] flavour".
In breeding years, the loud booming calls of the males at their mating arenas made it easy for MÃÂori hunting parties to track the kÃÂkÃÂpà  down, and it was also hunted while feeding or when dust-bathing in dry weather. The bird was caught, generally at night, using snares, pitfall traps, or by groups of domesticated Polynesian dogs which accompanied hunting parties â sometimes they would use fire sticks of various sorts to dazzle a bird in the darkness, stopping it in their tracks and making the capture easier. Cooking was done in a hÃÂngë or in gourds of boiling oil. The flesh of the bird could be preserved in its own fat and stored in containers for later consumption â hunters of the NgÃÂi Tahu would pack the flesh in baskets made from the inner bark of tà Âtara tree or in containers constructed from kelp. Bundles of kÃÂkÃÂpà  tail feathers were attached to the sides of these containers to provide decoration and a way to identify their contents. The MÃÂori also used the bird's eggs for food.
As well as eating the meat of the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, MÃÂori would use kÃÂkÃÂpà  skins with the feathers still attached or individually weave in kÃÂkÃÂpà  feathers with flax fibre to create cloaks and capes. Each one required up to 11,000 feathers to make. Not only were these garments considered very beautiful, they also kept the wearer very warm. They were highly valued and considered as (treasures), so much so that the old MÃÂori adage "You have a kÃÂkÃÂpà  cape and you still complain of the cold" was used to describe someone who is never satisfied. Only one cloak fully made of kÃÂkÃÂpà  feathers is known to still exist. It dates from the 1810sâÂÂ1820s and is held in the Perth Museum in Scotland; the museum in collaboration with the British Museum and MÃÂori advisers have restored the cloak. KÃÂkÃÂpà  feathers were also used to decorate the heads of , but were removed before use in combat.
Despite this, the kÃÂkÃÂpà  was also regarded as an affectionate pet by the MÃÂori. This was corroborated by European settlers in New Zealand in the 19th century, among them George Edward Grey, who once wrote in a letter to an associate that his pet kÃÂkÃÂpà Â's behaviour towards him and his friends was "more like that of a dog than a bird".
The conservation of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  has made the species well known. Many books and documentaries detailing the plight of the kÃÂkÃÂpà  have been produced in recent years, one of the earliest being Two in the Bush, made by Gerald Durrell for the BBC in 1962.
A feature-length documentary, The Unnatural History of the Kakapo won two major awards at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. Two of the most significant documentaries, both made by NHNZ, are Kakapo â Night Parrot (1982) and To Save the Kakapo (1997).
The BBC's Natural History Unit featured the kÃÂkÃÂpà Â, including a sequence with Sir David Attenborough in The Life of Birds. It was one of the endangered animals Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine set out to find for the radio series and book Last Chance to See. An updated version of the series has been produced for BBC TV, in which Stephen Fry and Carwardine revisit the animals to see how they are getting on almost 20 years later, and in January 2009, they spent time filming the kÃÂkÃÂpà  on Codfish Island / Whenua Hou. Footage of a kÃÂkÃÂpà  named Sirocco attempting to mate with Carwardine's head was viewed by millions worldwide, leading to Sirocco becoming "spokes-bird" for New Zealand wildlife conservation in 2010. Sirocco became the inspiration for the party parrot, a popular animated emoji frequently associated with the workflow application Slack.
The kÃÂkÃÂpà  was featured in the episode "Strange Islands" of the documentary series South Pacific, originally aired on 13 June 2009, in the episode "Worlds Apart" of the series The Living Planet, and in episode 3 of the BBC's New Zealand Earth's Mythical Islands.
In a 2019 kÃÂkÃÂpà  awareness campaign, the KÃÂkÃÂpà  Recovery Programme New Zealand National Partner, Meridian Energy, ran a Search for a Saxophonist to provide suitable mood music for encouraging mating to coincide with the 2019 kÃÂkÃÂpà  breeding season. The search and footage from the islands where breeding was taking place were featured on the Breakfast programme. The kÃÂkÃÂpà  was featured in the mobile game "KÃÂkÃÂpà  Run" developed by a UK conservation charity. This game aimed to raise support for kÃÂkÃÂpà  conservation by engaging players in fun, educational gameplay. A study found that playing the game helped increase positive attitudes and actions related to kÃÂkÃÂpà  protection, such as support for managing invasive predators and responsible pet care, though it did not lead to more donations.
The bird was voted New Zealand's bird of the year in 2008 and 2020.