The World's Only Flightless Parrot

The Kakapo is the only flightless parrot in the world. It is native to only a few islands off of New Zealand where there are hardly any ground animals, which allowed the Kakapo to carve out its own niche as a flightless bird that survived on nuts and fruit that fell to the ground.

But as man started to move to the islands, the bird became an easy meal to hungry travelers, as its natural reaction to being startled is to simply stand still. To make matters worse, people brought their animals, which soon started snagging all the tasty treats that the Kakapo lived on.

The animals nearly went extinct, but thanks to human intervention, the Kakapo's numbers are increasing. As you can see from the video, they're certainly ready and willing to speed up the breeding process.

Learn more about this strange and delightful creature on what has fast become one of my new favorite blogs, Ever So Strange.