The kākāpō (Māori: [ˈkaːkaːpɔː]; pl.: kākāpō; 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. Kākāpō can be up to 64 cm (25 in) long. They have a combination of unique traits among parrots: finely blotched yellow–green 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 1.5–3 kilograms (3.3–6.6 lb); the equivalent figure for females is 0.950–1.6 kilograms (2.09–3.53 lb). The anatomy of the kākāpō typifies the tendency of bird evolution on oceanic islands. With few predators and abundant food, kākāpō 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 kākāpō was historically important to Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. It appears in Māori mythology. Largely hunted in the past, it was used by the Māori both for its red meat and for its feathers. The kākāpō is critically endangered; the total known population of living individuals is 235 (as of 2026). 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 kākāpō. All conservation efforts were unsuccessful until the Kākāpō Recovery Programme began in 1995.
Taxonomy
The kākāpō was formally described and illustrated in 1845 by the English ornithologist George Robert Gray. He created a new genus and coined the binomial name Strigops habroptilus. 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 Strigops is derived from the Ancient Greek strix, genitive strigos ("owl"), and ops ("face"), while its specific epithet habroptilus comes from habros ("soft"), and ptilon ("feather"). In 1955 the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ruled that the genus name Strigops 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 kākāpō is Māori, from kākā ("parrot") + pō ("night"); the name is both singular and plural. "Kākāpō" is increasingly written in New Zealand English with the macrons that indicate long vowels. The correct pronunciation in Māori is [kaːkaːpɔː]; other colloquial pronunciations exist, however. These include the British English (KAH-kə-poh), as defined in the Chambers Dictionary in 2003. The kākāpō is placed in the family Strigopidae together with the two species in the genus Nestor, the kea (Nestor notabilis) and the kākā (Nestor meridionalis). 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 33–44 million years ago. The common ancestor of the kākāpō and the two Nestor species diverged 27–40 million years ago. Earlier ornithologists felt that the kākāpō 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.
Description
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