Kākāpō

Kākāpō eat only plants.

They eat leaves, flowers, roots, fruit and seeds. They walk on the ground and climb trees to find food.

Kākāpō are completely vegetarian. They eat leaves, buds, flowers, fern fronds, bark, roots, bulbs, fruit and seeds, and what they eat changes with the seasons.

They find their food on the ground and by climbing high into trees. One tree is especially important in the south: the rimu. In southern New Zealand, kākāpō only breed in years when the rimu trees are loaded with fruit, which happens every two to four years.

The diet is entirely plant-based and varies seasonally, including leaves, buds, flowers, fern fronds, bark, roots, rhizomes, bulbs, fruit and seeds. Birds forage on the ground and climb high into trees.

Food supply controls reproduction. New Zealand Birds Online explains that kākāpō breed only in years of good fruit abundance; on the southern islands this means rimu fruiting, which happens once every 2 to 4 years. Elsewhere they probably nested when southern beech seeded, while the trigger in some northern places, such as Hauturu, is unknown. Supplementary feeding of adults has been part of intensive management.

Kākāpō like to be alone.

They come out at night. They stay in the same part of the forest for many years.

Kākāpō are nocturnal and solitary: they come out at night and usually live alone, keeping the same home area for many years.

They can be noisy, though. Both males and females make a loud, high 'skraak' call. In breeding years the males boom, a very deep sound that helps females find them, and they also make a loud wheezing call called 'chinging'.

The kākāpō is nocturnal and solitary, occupying the same home range for many years. Both sexes give a loud, high-pitched 'skraak'; during breeding, males add the low-frequency 'booming' and a loud wheezing 'chinging' to draw females to the lek.

Today every bird carries a small backpack radio transmitter that lets DOC track its location and activity, and the 2026 season used remote nest technology to reduce how often staff needed to check eggs and chicks.

Kākāpō nearly disappeared.

People moved them to safe islands and helped them raise chicks. Now there are 325 kākāpō, more than in a very long time!

After people arrived in New Zealand, kākāpō were hunted, their forests were cleared, and new predators such as cats and stoats killed them. By the mid-1900s they had almost disappeared.

In 1995 the Kākāpō Recovery Programme started with just 51 birds, including only 20 females. Moving birds to predator-free islands and watching closely over their nests has worked. In 2026 a record 90 chicks joined the population, which reached 325 on 1 September 2026.

DOC attributes the decline to hunting, predators and habitat loss after human arrival; protection efforts began in 1894, yet the species nearly went extinct by the mid-1900s. The IUCN's 2018 global assessment lists it as Critically Endangered, and New Zealand classifies it as Threatened, Nationally Critical.

From 51 birds (31 males, 20 females) in 1995, the population reached 325 on 1 September 2026 after a record 90 chicks; DOC notes it may not have exceeded 300 for 75 years. Low genetic diversity still causes infertility and poor hatching. Ngāi Tahu, for whom kākāpō are a taonga, are partners in the program.