A large olive-green parrot of the forests and mountains of New Zealand's South Island, with bright orange under its wings. It is one of the few parrots that regularly spend time above the tree line, and it is famously curious and clever, solving puzzles and working in teams.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inNew Zealand
HabitatMountains, Forest
ColoursGreen, Orange
SizeMedium
Length46–50 cm
Weight750–1,000 g
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inflocks
Lives for15–20 years
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- The South Island of New Zealand, from lowland valleys and coastal forests on the west coast up to alpine areas such as Arthur's Pass and Aoraki / Mount Cook.
- What it eats
- More than 40 kinds of plant, plus beetle larvae, grasshoppers, snails, shearwater chicks and carrion. Some birds have learned to attack sheep.
- Conservation
- Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
An alpine parrot that solves puzzles, works in teams, and strips rubber off cars for fun.
Sheep farmers once paid bounties to have it killed; it has been fully protected since 1986.
It lives in groups of up to 13 birds, and birds kept alone in captivity do badly.
Often confused with
- Kakapo
Both are New Zealand parrots, but the kea flies and is active by day in the mountains, while the kākāpō is flightless and nocturnal.
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