Sirocco (Kakapo)

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Sirocco (2009)
Sirocco (2008)

Sirocco (born March 23, 1997 ) is a kakapo , a flightless and nocturnal parrot in New Zealand . It is one of the last of its kind, the total of which is 211 copies (as of December 2019). The bird has not been found since February 2016, and in February 2018 it was found during a search.

Life

Sirocco hatched on March 23, 1997 on Codfish Island , a small island northwest of Stewart Island on the southern tip of New Zealand. At three weeks old, Sirocco suffered from a respiratory illness that resulted in his separation from his mother, Zephyr. The young bird was hand reared by game rangers in the Department of Conservation .

By rearing human hands, he did not get used to his fellow species in later years. This behavioral problem also affects the “booming”, the courtship ritual of the kakapos: the courtship behavior is present, but sirocco only displays in the presence of people, but not with female kakapos. Nevertheless, its role as a mouthpiece for the conservation of the kakapos is extremely important.

Since 2006 Sirocco has been regularly on Ulva Island at Kakapo meetings; in September 2009 he was seen at the Auckland Zoo and he has since been found in various wildlife parks, including the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and Maungatautari Ecological Island.

After Sirocco could not be found since February 2016 due to a defective transmitter, it was found intact during a search at the beginning of February 2018, after two years without contact with people.

Media attention

The animal was best known through the BBC television series Last Chance to See , which is based on the book The Last of their Kinds by the zoologist Mark Carwardine and the author Douglas Adams . There he tried to mate with the zoologist in front of the camera. Due to the worldwide distribution of the program via television and the Internet, both the Kakapos and the Siroccos became more internationally known. In 2010 the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key awarded the bird the title "Official Spokesbird for Conservation".

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Kākāpō Recovery. Retrieved December 5, 2019 (en-nz).
  2. ↑ a b New Zealand is looking for its most famous parrot. In: NZZ . December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Sirocco found. In: DOC . February 8, 2018, accessed February 8, 2018 .

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