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Strigops habroptila
– Critically Endangered
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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AVES
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Order:
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PSITTACIFORMES
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Family:
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PSITTACIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Strigops habroptila
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Species Authority:
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Gray, 1845
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Common Name/s:
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| English | — | KAKAPO |
| French | — | KAKAPO, PERROQUET NOCTURNE, PERROQUET-HIBOU, STRIGOPS KAKAPO |
| Spanish | — | CACAPO, KAKAPO |
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Taxonomic Notes:
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Gender agreement of species name follows David and Gosselin (2002b).
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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CR C2a(i); D ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2006
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Assessor/s:
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BirdLife International
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Evaluator/s:
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Butchart, S. & Temple, H. (BirdLife International Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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This species only survives in a tiny population on four offshore islands and therefore qualifies as Critically Endangered. With the instigation of intensive management in 1995, numbers are now increasing, but the population trend over the last three generations has still been negative.
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History:
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| 1988 | - | Threatened (Collar and Andrew 1988) |
| 1994 | - | Extinct in the Wild (Collar, Crosby and Stattersfield 1994) |
| 2000 | - | Critically Endangered (BirdLife International 2000) |
| 2004 | - | Critically Endangered (BirdLife International 2004) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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Strigops habroptila formerly occurred throughout most of the North, South and Stewart Islands, New Zealand. Although it disappeared from most of its original range in the wake of human colonization, the species remained abundant in Fiordland and some other higher-rainfall and more sparsely inhabited parts of South Island until the early twentieth century1. By 1976 however, the known population had been reduced to 18 birds, all males, all in Fiordland. In 1977, a rapidly declining population of c.150 birds was discovered on Stewart Island. Between 1980 and 1992, 61 remaining Stewart Island birds were transferred to offshore islands, and are presently located on Maud, Inner Chetwode, Codfish and Pearl Islands3,7,8,10. In 1999, 26 females and 36 males survived9, comprising 50 individuals of breeding age, six subadults and six juveniles. The population has stabilised, and has begun to slowly increase3,4,10 owing to an extraordinary three consecutive successful breeding seasons3,9,10, and discovery, in 1997, of a further female on Stewart Island. By 2005, thanks to painstaking management, the kakapo population stood at 8613. Of that number, 56 were breeding adults (12 females and 35 males) and 30 were juveniles12,13.
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Countries:
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Native:
New Zealand
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Population
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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It feeds on leaves, stems, roots, fruit, nectar and seeds. It breeds once every three to five years, coinciding with periodic superabundant seeding or fruiting periods of key plant species. It lays 1-3 eggs. Eggs and chicks are left unattended for many hours at night. Age of sexual maturity may be 6-9 years. One productive male is at least 30 years old. Adult survivorship is now more than 99% per year1,2,3,5,8,9,10.
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System:
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Terrestrial
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List of Habitats:
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| 1.4 | Forest - Temperate |
| 14.2 | Artificial/Terrestrial - Pastureland |
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Threats
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Threats:
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On Stewart Island, over 50% of monitored adults were killed each year by cats1. Moderately low fertility and exceedingly low natural reproductive and recruitment rates are major concerns. All birds are over 18, and probably much older, except for 15 hatched since 19813,9,10. These include only six females, of which five are many years from breeding age9.
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List of Threats:
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| 2.2 | Invasive alien species (directly affecting the species) - Predators (past) |
| 2.4 | Invasive alien species (directly affecting the species) - Pathogens/parasites (past) |
| 9.2 | Intrinsic factors - Poor recruitment/reproduction/regeneration (ongoing) |
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Conservation measures underway:
CITES Appendix I and II. Supplementary feeding has increased the frequency and success of breeding attempts, and may be able to be used to trigger breeding3,10. All individuals are radiotagged, and tracked throughout the year. Each nest is monitored continuously using infra-red video cameras, and heat pads are placed over eggs and nestlings while females forage. In 1998, Pacific rat Rattus exulans (a predator of eggs and nestlings) was eradicated from Codfish10. Extensive research is ongoing4,6. Methods of hand-rearing chicks are being refined. Reducing supplementary feeding levels has been shown to increase the percentage of female chicks produced and may redress the skewed gender balance11.
Conservation measures proposed:
Continue research to identify key factors that limit breeding frequency and productivity, and address these urgently2.
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List of Conservation Actions:
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| 3.8 | Research actions - Conservation measures (needed) |
| 5.4 | Species-based actions - Recovery management (needed) |
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Bibliography
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Bibliography:
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Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places:
For References from A–L.
For References from M–Z. BirdLife International 2006. Threatened Birds of the World 2006. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/05/2006. BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K. BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K. Collar, N.J. and Andrew, P. 1988. Birds to Watch. The ICBP World Checklist of Threatened Birds. ICBP Technical Publication No. 8. Page Bros. (Norwich) Ltd, Norfolk, England. Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Stattersfield, A.J. 1994. Birds to Watch 2. The World List of Threatened Birds BirdLife International. Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, U.K. IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Scott, P. (ed.) 1965. Section XIII. Preliminary List of Rare Mammals and Birds. In: The Launching of a New Ark, pp. 15–207. First Report of the President and Trustees of the World Wildlife Fund. An International Foundation for saving the world's wildlife and wild places 1961–1964. Collins, London.
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