Which island nation is home to the critically endangered kakapo?

The critically endangered kākāpō is native to New Zealand. It is endemic to the country, meaning it naturally occurs nowhere else in the world.

The kākāpō is a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot with green-and-yellow plumage and an owl-like facial disc. New Zealand’s long isolation once allowed unusual birds to evolve without many mammalian predators. The kākāpō adapted to life on the forest floor, but that became a devastating disadvantage after humans introduced rats, cats, dogs and stoats.

Māori hunted kākāpō for food and feathers, while European settlement brought extensive forest clearance and additional predators. By the late twentieth century, the species was close to extinction. Conservationists moved surviving birds to predator-free islands and individually monitor their breeding, health and genetics.

The Kākāpō Recovery Programme, established in 1995, has helped the population grow. The bird is still critically endangered, however, because its population remains small and carefully managed. It is also the world’s only flightless parrot and one of its heaviest parrots.