| [00:00.00] |
It's a parrot, |
| [00:01.14] |
and weighing up to four kilos, |
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it's the world's heaviest. |
| [00:05.85] |
And yes, you've guessed it, |
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it can't fly. |
| [00:09.95] |
Meet the kakapo. |
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Too heavy and short-winged to get airborne, |
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it climbs trees instead. |
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Kakapo were once one of the most successful |
| [00:19.45] |
and abundant herbivores in New Zealand, |
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the Kiwi equivalent of our rabbit. |
| [00:23.76] |
In 1899, explorer Charlie Douglas wrote, |
| [00:27.04] |
''They could be caught in the moonlight by simply shaking the tree |
| [00:30.49] |
or bush until they tumbled to the ground, |
| [00:33.08] |
like shaking down apples.'' |
| [00:34.79] |
Its favourite food is up above, |
| [00:37.04] |
the tiny seeds of the rimu tree. |
| [00:39.85] |
This fruit fuels kakapo reproduction |
| [00:42.93] |
and they only breed when the trees produce a bumper crop, |
| [00:46.16] |
so about once every four years. |
| [00:48.82] |
Kakapo breed slower than any other bird, |
| [00:51.97] |
but they also live longer, |
| [00:54.24] |
sometimes more than a hundred years. |
| [00:57.24] |
The male's "song'' is as peculiar as the bird itself. |
