奇妙岛屿 13

It's a parrot,

and weighing up to four kilos,

it's the world's heaviest.

And yes, you've guessed it,

it can't fly.

Meet the kakapo.

Too heavy and short-winged to get airborne,

it climbs trees instead.

Kakapo were once one of the most successful

and abundant herbivores in New Zealand,

the Kiwi equivalent of our rabbit.

In 1899, explorer Charlie Douglas wrote,

''They could be caught in the moonlight by simply shaking the tree

or bush until they tumbled to the ground,

like shaking down apples.''

Its favourite food is up above,

the tiny seeds of the rimu tree.

This fruit fuels kakapo reproduction

and they only breed when the trees produce a bumper crop,

so about once every four years.

Kakapo breed slower than any other bird,

but they also live longer,

sometimes more than a hundred years.

The male's "song'' is as peculiar as the bird itself.