Hi Steemit family!
A few weeks ago I published on the rainbow parrots some beautiful birds native to Australia, today I bring a parrot a little strange, a species whose evolution drastically changed the characteristics that we can commonly find in different species of parrots. This is the kakapo, probably the strangest parrot, come with me to know some of its main characteristics.
was discovered since the arrival of the settlers to the island that today is New Zealand, but it was not until the nineteenth century when scientists, a very difficult time for the kakapo that was vilely captured, hundreds of thousands of kakapos were captured to be taken to all corners of the planet from private collections to zoos.
Currently, this species is under threat of extinction in red alert, only 160 specimens remain, placing it in the list of the most threatened animals in the world.
Its name comes from the Maori dialect aborigines that inhabited islands of the Pacific and its translation in English would be parrot at night, since its activity is nocturnal, in addition it has a size that surpasses to the other species of parrot arriving to weigh 4 kilograms, its face is more similar to that of an owl, it has feathers of green color with yellow, brown and gray a natural camouflage not to be detected in the vegetation of its habitat.
This bird does not have a keel fundamental part in the birds to be able to fly, in addition the weight would not let it go so far either, there is a clear sexual dimorphism, the females are 50% smaller than the males, although this bird cannot fly is very good climbing trees and everything that crosses him by the way.
Not only is it different in form also in other aspects as the reproduction, they differ for meeting the males in a common place to begin a competition, the female is attracted by the different confrontations and the very strong sounds that emit the parrots when they are in the season, after they compete the female for natural selection chooses the most suitable specimen for the reproduction.
The diet of the kakapos is based on plants, they love to eat flowers, tree barks, roots, leaves, shoots, in fruit season they also eat these and finally their seeds. And it is precisely the fruit season in some plant species that determines their reproduction, this is because during the year with that diet low in nutrients fails to produce the hormones responsible for reproduction and this coincides every 5 years.
It is sad that today there are only a hundred of these birds left as a result of human interaction in their habitat, it is estimated that before the arrival some 800 years ago, the population of these exotic parrots was at least 1 million, they shared the island with other animals such as reptiles and invertebrates and other birds. This is mainly due to the fact that on the island there were no mammals known to be natural predators of all kinds of animals, since there were no mammals and other predators, the evolution of the bird was such that it was able to grow larger and therefore stop flying, modifying some parts of its body to give way to a prominent bird weighing up to 5 kilograms.
At present the bird is in a natural refuge unless it is hunted or exterminated. In order to follow in its footsteps, the scientists in charge of special care have placed radio transmitters with which they can check in real time important data regarding its health.
Thank you for reading
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