Kakapo - New Zealand

April 2003
The rare giant Kakapo parrot could soon be extinct. However one man is determined to save this beautiful species. And with the help of his dog, he may yet succeed.

Allan Munn runs a parrot sanctuary on Chalky Island. He relies on his dog, Heidi, to locate the endangered birds and is now on a quest to find a mate for one bird.

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Kakapo
• parrot
• Richard
• Henry
• extinct
• Allan
• Munn
• Chalky
• Island
• Journeyman
• Pictures
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[greengrendel]

Douglas Adams ftw.

[Sommerkc]

hehe i have to do a project on this animal...i had to think of a random animal...and i thought of this and my teacher was like "what the heck is a kakapo?!" lol

[aaronrocs]

"Strong Aroma" must be why they're called KaKa Po, lol. I would love one as a pet if they weren't endangered, but I'd have to check out that "Strong Aroma" first before making that decision.

[Averyofthemain]

Maybe this is bad, but I want them to flourish so I can eat one.

[ac130ugunship]

@MoriyaMug ReaLLY!! where where all the hand reared chicks raised

[verticalsmurf]

Gorgeous sweet birds!

[MoriyaMug]

@wannabethug7 They can't be bred in captivity because the females are only fertile when a specific tree fruits heavily (every two years), as that is what's eaten and regurgitated to feed the chicks. The closest that has been attempted is artificial insemination, in the case of fertile-but-nonreceptive females. They are indeed wonderful animals, but their population must be self-sustaining before any thought of human stewardship could ever be entertained.

[Dareigan]

@Magoonski Fucking pessimists.

[Dareigan]

I love how during the release, the first one kinda wanders out slowly like it's thinking "Oooh, I think I like it here..."

And the second one's just all. "BITCH I'M OUTTA HERE."

[dalecampbl6]

i feel the same way, they're pretty docile too and don't seem to be afraid of humans and actually are fine with being touched...they're better than parakeets!

[LyleGunderson]

ilonapet, if the kakapo were to recover to the extent that would make it possible to breed them for pets, the revenue and favorable publicity would help the survival of the species. They actually seem to like people, even more than the cockatoo, yellow-naped Amazon, and cockatiels that share our lives do. I wonder how well they would adapt to living with humans full-time.

[ilonapet]

to the person who said "why dont people breed them more, they can be a pet" , they dont need to be pets.... they need to be free where they belong. when do we stop wanting to cage animals?