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March 4, 2026<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Love Island: Rare berry bonanza spurs Kākāpō baby boom<\/p>\n A massive bloom of rimu berries fueled a mating surge among the world\u2019s heaviest (and strangest) parrots<\/p>\n By Elizabeth Anne Brown edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier<\/span><\/p>\n Kākāpō rely primarily on rimu berries to reproduce\u2014and this year\u2019s huge crop set the mood.<\/p>\n The biggest berry bloom in New Zealand\u2019s forests in decades has set off a mating frenzy among the critically endangered Kākāpō, the world\u2019s beefiest parrot.<\/p>\n With the face of a Muppet and the physique of a Furby, the Kākāpō is an all-around preposterous creature. It\u2019s nocturnal, lime green and, as science-fiction writer Douglas Adams wrote, \u201cflies like a brick.\u201d The animals produce a strong, fruity musk, can weigh as much as a house cat and can potentially live for 90 years or more.<\/p>\n At the beginning of 2026 only 236 Kākāpōs remain in the world, and to the chagrin of their human conservation team, the birds primarily rely on a single fruit to set the mood for love. That means the animals mate prolifically only when the rimu tree\u2014a towering conifer that can live for a millennium\u2014produces a bumper crop of bright red berries, which happens every two to four years.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n During the berry-backed courtship rituals, male Kākāpōs used their stumpy little feet to scrape and stomp out earthen amphitheaters called \u201cbooming bowls,\u201d which amplify their courtship song\u2014a resonant, low-pitched call that carries for miles. \u201cRather than hearing it, you kind of feel it in the chest,\u201d says Andrew Digby, science adviser for the Kākāpō team at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.<\/p>\n Kākāpō on her nest.<\/p>\n Andrew Digby\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/p>\n Nearly all female Kākāpōs of reproductive age have bred this year, Digby says, producing an impressive 240 eggs and counting. About half of the eggs will be fertile. Fewer will hatch, and fewer still will survive long enough to fledge. As of March 3, scientists have tallied 26 living chicks.<\/p>\n These population gains wouldn\u2019t have been possible without a handful of Kākāpō \u201csuperbreeders,\u201d including Blades, a Kākāpō Don Juan of unknown age who, after fathering 22 chicks since 1982, has been banished to \u201cBachelor Island\u201d for fears that he\u2019ll flood the gene pool. \u201cHe was a victim of his own success,\u201d Digby says. \u201cHe was too popular.\u201d<\/p>\n A newborn chick being weighed.<\/p>\n Lydia Uddstrom\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/p>\n Once the fortunate eggs hatch, the females will rear their chicks alone. Every night Kākāpō moms use beak and talon to climb up 100 feet to the rimu tree canopies to harvest berries\u2014about a pound\u2019s worth per chick each day. Some females have reproduced for more than 40 years, creating strong \u201cdynasties,\u201d he says. One Kākāpō matriarch named Nora has participated in 13 breeding cycles since 1981 and stands to become both a mom and a great-great-grandmother this season. This year you can watch Kākāpō supermom Rakiura on a nest cam as she hatches and rears two chicks, fending off nest intruders that include shorebirds and bats. Although Rakiura is only 24 years old, she has successfully raised nine of her own chicks and fostered many more for less experienced females. Right now the chicks look like dandelion puffs, but within a few weeks, they\u2019ll become \u201cweird little dinosaurs with these huge, oversized feet,\u201d Digby says.<\/p>\n The team hopes enough chicks will survive this year to bring the world Kākāpō population to 300\u2014a major milestone for a species that was teetering with just 51 individuals in 1995. The flightless birds were easy pickings for invasive predators, including house cats, dogs and weasel-like stoats\u2014the fruity eau de Kākāpō is pungent enough that even humans can track them by scent. The Kākāpōs found sanctuary on three predator-free islands belonging to the Ngāi Tahu, whose tribespeople act as kaitiaki, or caretakers, of the birds. \u201cIt\u2019s a taonga species, a treasure to us,\u201d says Tāne Davis, who has been the Ngāi Tahu\u2019s representative in Kākāpō conservation for 20 years.<\/p>\n One-day-old Kākāpō chick during a health check.<\/p>\n Lydia Uddstrom\/New Zealand Department of Conservation<\/p>\n The Kākāpōs have outgrown these tiny refuges, and the pressure is on to \u201crestore the mauri, or life force, of the habitat\u201d on larger islands by removing the invasive predators there, Davis says.<\/p>\n The 2026 breeding cycle represents a new era for Kākāpōs, Davis and Digby agree. At the Ngāi Tahu\u2019s request, some of the chicks born this year won\u2019t be named. \u201cIt\u2019s about letting them have their lives back in the wild,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 4, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Love Island: Rare berry bonanza spurs Kākāpō baby boom A massive bloom of rimu berries fueled a mating surge among the world\u2019s heaviest (and strangest) parrots By Elizabeth Anne Brown edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Kākāpō rely primarily on rimu berries to reproduce\u2014and this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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