Source: NBC News
New Zealand conservationists are celebrating a record breeding season for the critically endangered kakapo, with 90 chicks added to the population in 2026. The successful season increased the population of the flightless parrot to a record 325 birds, potentially its highest level in about 75 years.
The Kakapo Recovery Programme began in 1995 with only 51 birds, including 20 females. Recovery has been complicated by low genetic diversity, infertility, poor hatching success, habitat loss, and introduced predators such as cats and rats. Today, surviving kakapos are protected on predator-free offshore islands, where conservationists use radio transmitters and other technology to monitor them.
Officials are gradually reducing intensive management and allowing more natural breeding outcomes. Although kakapos breed infrequently, modeling suggests the next breeding season could occur in 2028, only two years after this record-setting season.