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It's a parrot, |
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and weighing up to four kilos, |
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it's the world's heaviest. |
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And yes, you've guessed it, |
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it can't fly. |
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Meet the kakapo. |
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Too heavy and short-winged to get airborne, |
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it climbs trees instead. |
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Kakapo were once one of the most successful |
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and abundant herbivores in New Zealand, |
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the Kiwi equivalent of our rabbit. |
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In 1899, explorer Charlie Douglas wrote, |
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''They could be caught in the moonlight by simply shaking the tree |
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or bush until they tumbled to the ground, |
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like shaking down apples.'' |
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Its favourite food is up above, |
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the tiny seeds of the rimu tree. |
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This fruit fuels kakapo reproduction |
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and they only breed when the trees produce a bumper crop, |
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so about once every four years. |
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Kakapo breed slower than any other bird, |
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but they also live longer, |
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sometimes more than a hundred years. |
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The male's "song'' is as peculiar as the bird itself. |