The kakapo is the world's heaviest and only flightless parrot. Now, some scientists are using advanced technology to rescue the endangered kakapos. If successful, the techniques used may help save other bird species as well.
The few remaining kakapos live on three small islands, where their progress can be monitored through a smart device. Once found in large numbers across New Zealand, the cute bird, which can weigh up to 11 pounds (about 5 kilograms), is now heading to extinction. While cruel predators (捕食者) such as foxes, cats, and snakes are largely to blame, the kakapo's strange habits of laying eggs don't help either. For starters, the parrots, which can live up to 100 years, do not start laying eggs until the age of five.
Scientists have set up individual feeding stations for all the birds to keep track of how much they eat. Given the difficulties in increasing the population, it is not surprising that only 114 adult parrots remain. Though the number is low, it is a great improvement over the 51 kakapos that remained on Earth in 1995. The increase of its population results from the government's decision to remove the 51 birds to three small predator-free islands off the coast of New Zealand, and the efforts of a team led by Andrew Digby, a kakapo scientist for the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
A four-day-old kakapo chick will receive a health check. Young chicks in nests are examined and weighed every night, to ensure they are healthy.
Once the birds lay eggs, the eggs are carefully moved from the nests and taken to a hatching (孵化) room to hatch. "We tend to be more successful at raising kakapo eggs than the kakapo, " says Digby. "We break less of them." Once the eggs hatch, each mother is given only one chick, while the rest of the newborns are hand-fed (人工喂养). This helps ensure they all receive enough food.
