Decline

When the first Polynesian settlers arrived in New Zealand, they found a very small landmass populated with bizarre wildlife.

Unlike all other major landmasses in the world, New Zealand had no land mammals, except for three species of bats. Instead, birds, reptiles and insects had evolved to inherit the full range of ecological opportunities available. Some birds occupied niches normally occupied by mammals.

It was a “Noah's Ark” of fascinating evolutionary experiments. Instead of mice, New Zealand had bush wrens. Instead of giraffes or kangaroos, New Zealand had the giant moa. And instead of rabbits or possums, New Zealand had the kakapo.

A huge flightless parrot that lumbered around the bushes in the dark, the kakapo would have filled summer nights with the strange calls of its breeding repertoire.

"The Kakapo is esteemed a great delicacy by the natives; but its flesh has a strong and slightly stringent flavour." - Dr Lyall, British naturalist, 1852.

By the time of European settlement, in the early 1800s, kakapo had become confined to the central North Island and forested parts of the South Island.
European settlement greatly accelerated the kakapo's demise. Forest clearance, increased hunting, and the release of further introduced predators, such as cats, two further rat species and stoats, and food competitors such as possums and deer wreaked havoc on the remnant population.

"They could be caught in the moonlight, when on the low scrub, by simply shaking the tree or bush until they tumbled on the ground, something like shaking down apples. I have seen as many as half a dozen kakapos shaken off one tutu bush this way." - Charlie Douglas, Westland explorer, 1899

By 1894, the kakapo was in serious trouble and the Government launched its first attempt to save the species. Led by pioneer conservationist Richard Henry, several hundred kakapo were shifted to the predator-free Resolution Island in Fiordland Unfortunately, within six years, stoats arrived on the island and destroyed the population.

By the middle of the twentieth century, the kakapo was a lost species. Few people saw kakapo any more, and no one actively cared for them. Only a few birds remained, limited to the most isolated parts of New Zealand.