The Kākāpō

Animal of the Month

by Joseph Zyber

The kākāpō (KAA-kuh-poh) is a nocturnal, flightless, green bird found in New Zealand. It usually lives from 60 to 125 years, and weighs up to 9lbs! The first human life to find the kākāpō were the Māori people. When it was first found by the Māori people the bird was named kākāpō with kākā meaning “parrot” and pō meaning “night”.

(Image of a grown kākāpō)

The Māori people are an indigenous tribe of New Zealand known for their unique lifestyle, language, and beliefs. In their language “Māori” means normal, or ordinary, But they call themselves the “tangata whenua” which quite literally means “people of the land”.

The Māori people believed that the kākāpō’s unusual style of breeding meant lots of fruit the following spring. The bird was believed to have the ability to tell the future by the Māori people. The Māori people also considered kākāpō meat a delicacy. Some sources say it had the taste and texture of a lamb, and European settlers described it as having a “strong and slightly stringent flavor”. There are only about 250 kākāpōs left in the world and the species is endangered.

(Image of young kākāpōs)