The world's only flightless parrot

The owl parrot is a nocturnal parrot, covered in yellow-green dots, and is endemic to New Zealand. The owl parrot has a unique arrangement of facial disc feathers on the face of the owliformes, distinctive receptor whiskers, a large, gray bill, short legs and large feet, wings and a relatively short tail, and its different habits make it a rather unique species. When frightened, it stays still and is very easy to catch, and there are only 126 owls left in the world.

Why can't the owl parrot fly

The owl parrot is different from other birds that can fly, it has a pair of relatively short wings and lacks the keel of the bird to control the muscles of flight, so its wings can not support it to fly, but can only be used to maintain balance, or to play a supporting role when jumping. Therefore, the owl parrot does not need to maintain its figure like other birds, they tend to convert the food they consume into fat and hoard it, so it is one of the heaviest birds of its size, and its excessive weight is one of the reasons why it has difficulty flying.

Habitat of the owl parrot

The owl parrot is not able to fly, so it can only live in areas with few natural enemies, so most of the owl parrots live on the chalk island in the south of New Zealand, where there is plenty of food for the owl parrot and fewer natural enemies, which is the most ideal place for the owl parrot to live. However, the chalk island is not the original residence of all owls parrots, in 1994, the New Zealand government in order to start to protect the owls parrots, developed a comprehensive conservation plan for the owls parrots to open up a suitable survival of the chalk island, first by professional personnel into the chalk island to destroy one of their natural predators ferrets, and later moved a number of owls parrots to this place, become the owls parrot protection.

Life habits of the owl parrot

The owl parrot is a nocturnal animal, mostly independent, and has a very keen sense of smell, which is quite rare among parrots as they can find their food by smell only. In addition, the owl parrot also has a special body scent, so the curiosity of European scientists to capture and study them, which also led to a significant decline in the number of owl parrot race. The New Zealand government had to start a priority conservation program for the owl parrot.