THE WORLD’S WEIRDEST PARROT REFUSED TO GO EXTINCT.
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō population has reached 325, after a record 90 chicks joined the official count this season. The recovery program began in 1995 with just 51 birds. Extremely round bird: still here.
THE WORLD’S WEIRDEST PARROT REFUSED TO GO EXTINCT
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō population has reached 325 birds — a recovery-era high — after 90 chicks from the 2026 breeding season joined the official population count. The recovery program began in 1995 with just 51 birds.
WHAT HAPPENED
Kākāpō are enormous, flightless, nocturnal parrots found only in New Zealand. They are also exceptionally vulnerable: low genetic diversity, poor fertility and introduced predators pushed the species frighteningly close to extinction.
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation and Ngāi Tahu have spent decades managing an unusually intensive recovery program. Birds are monitored individually, breeding is closely tracked, and populations live primarily on predator-free islands.
This year delivered a remarkable milestone. Ninety chicks survived long enough to be added to the official population, taking the total to 325. DOC says the species may not have exceeded 300 birds for roughly 75 years. For perspective, when the modern recovery effort began in 1995, there were only 51 known birds, including 20 females.
There is still a long recovery ahead. But 325 is very different from 51.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
Because conservation victories are usually built out of thousands of boring, careful, unglamorous decisions made over decades by people who refuse to accept that “almost gone” means “gone.”
Also because the bird at the center of this enormous scientific effort is a giant green parrot that cannot fly and carries a tiny radio transmitter like a backpack.
Extremely round bird: still here.
ORIGINAL SOURCENew Zealand Department of Conservation / Kākāpō Recovery ProgrammeRead the original report