Endangered Birds

Endangered Birds

Introduction Have you ever seen a great auk (AWK)? These penguin-like birds once lived along the coasts from Iceland to Florida. But the great auk was fiercely hunted for its feathers and eggs. The very last ones were killed in 1844. Today, great auks are extinct. You can only see them in pictures, or see their skeletons in a museum.

There are many other birds that are endangered, or close to becoming extinct. We will look at some of those birds in this book. We will also see some ways that humans are trying to save them.

The Kakapo The kakapo (ka-ku-po) of New Zealand is one of the strangest, and rarest, birds in the world. It has short wings and cannot fly, but it has strong legs to walk through the mountains. It looks like an owl, and it comes out at night like an owl. But the kakapo is actually a parrot. Male kakapos make a booming call that sounds like a giant heartbeat.

Before Europeans came to New Zealand, there were few predators, or meat-eating animals, on the islands. Europeans brought cats, rats, and dogs to New Zealand. The kakapos had never seen these animals, so they didn't know how to defend themselves. And they couldn't fly to escape. The predators killed so many birds that by the 1950s, the kakapo disappeared.

Then, in 1974, a few males were found. But because there were no females to lay eggs, kakapos would become extinct once the males died. In 1980, four females were found. Humans moved the kakapos to small islands without predators. Scientists began breeding the kakapos, or helping them reproduce. Today, there are 62 kakapos.