Kaka

New Zealand kākā
A pair of North Island kākā in Zealandia, Wellington, New Zealand
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Nestoridae
Genus: Nestor
Species:
N. meridionalis
Binomial name
Nestor meridionalis
(Gmelin, JF, 1788)
Range in green

The kākā (Nestor meridionalis) is a large parrot. It lives in forests on all three main islands of New Zealand. It is mostly olive-green in color, with orange under its wings. It has a large, curved, grey-brown upper beak.

It is closely related to the kea, but has darker feather and lives in trees rather than mountains.

There used to be three species of kākā, but only the New Zealand kākā (N. meridionalis) remains. The Norfolk kaka (N. productus) used to live on Norfolk Island, but went extinct in 1851. The Chatham kākā (N. chathamensis) used to live on the Chatham Islands, but went extinct sometime between 1500 and 1650.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2022). "Nestor meridionalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022 e.T22684840A216083435. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  2. ↑ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  3. ↑ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
  4. ↑ Froggatt, Jma; Gill, Bj (2016-04-02). "Bill morphology reflects adaptation to a fibrous diet in the kākāpō ( Strigops: Psittaciformes)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 43 (2): 138–148. doi:10.1080/03014223.2015.1112820. ISSN 0301-4223.
  5. ↑ "Norfolk Island Kaka".
  6. ↑ "NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz.