The meter-tall "Heracles inexpectatus" roamed New Zealand nearly 20 million years ago. Scientists say it may have eaten other parrots with a beak that "could crack wide open anything it fancied."
Image: Flinders University/Dr. Brian Choo
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Scientists in New Zealand have uncovered the remains of a gigantic parrot that roamed the country some 20 million years ago.
The ancient bird stood up to a meter (39 inches) tall and weighed up to seven kilograms (15.5 pounds), an international team of researchers wrote in an article published in Biology Letters.
"Heracles, as the largest parrot ever, no doubt with a massive parrot beak that could crack wide open anything it fancied, may well have dined on more than conventional parrot foods, perhaps even other parrots," said Professor Mike Archer from the University of New South Wales in Australia.
The research team found the bird's fossils near a mining town on New Zealand's South Island 11 years ago. They only realized what they were after re-examining the remains earlier this year.
"The thought they were from a giant parrot did not enter our minds. We thought it could be some type of eagle until we went back and looked at it again," Paul Scofield from New Zealand's Canterbury Museum told the AFP news agency.
Paleontologists from Flinders University in Australia and the Canterbury Museum have named the parrot "Heracles inexpectatus."
About a tall, green, bounty-hunted bird
The kea is the world's only alpine parrot. It's big enough to hunt for sheep, which is why it fell victim to a century-long bounty hunt - New Zealand's bird of the year 2017 is indeed fascinating (and endangered).
Image: Imago/imagebroker
The one and only
The kea is a large parrot, endemic to New Zealand. The birds have olive-green feathers (bright orange on the back and below the wings though) and are the world’s only parrot species that lives in the mountains. Kea (that's both the singular and plural term) are very intelligent. They have a novelty-seeking nature, which is one of the reasons why they are on the brink of extinction.
Image: Iimago/Nature Picture Library
Naive eaters
The curious birds are known for being very open-minded when it comes to food. They won't even reject junk food given to them by tourists. As a result of their gullibility, they even eat poison bait on occasion. Ironically, it's bait intended to control pests that are threatening New Zealand's bird species like the Kiwi and Weka, which breed on the ground and can’t fly.
Image: Imago/Bluegreen Pictures
Crashing numbers
Today, conservationists are raising the alarm after years of dramatic decline in kea population figures. Only between 3,000 and 7,000 birds are said to remain in the wild. Nonetheless, many New Zealanders consider the birds a pest.
Image: Imago/blickwinkel
An old conflict
The conflict dates back to the late 1860s when the big birds were blamed for attacking sheep. To "fix" the kea problem, the government came up with some kind of bounty system, offering beak money. According to New Zealand's Department of Agriculture, by 1970, an estimated 150,000 kea had been killed.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
Bird of the year 2017
In 2017, the mountain-dwelling kea received a notable honor: the species was chosen for New Zealand's bird of the year. It received 7,311 votes, beating birds like the native wood pigeon, the kererū, which came in second with 4,572 votes, followed by the kākāpō with 2,554 votes.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
Birdland
With 168 bird species in total, many of them endemic, it's fair to say that New Zealand is a bird country. When Captain James Cook arrived on the island in the 1770s, he wrote that the noise of the birds was deafening. Today, around a third of the bird species are threatened with extinction and dozens more are on the endangered list.
