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A Giant Parrot of New Zealand
Imagine a parrot the size of a five-year old child
© Dr. Brian Choo
New Zealand was once home to a massive parrot that stood three feet tall, about hip-high to most adult humans. It’s estimated that the bird weighed around fifteen pounds, and it probably didn’t fly. But it didn’t need to, because there were no land predators at that time — between sixteen and nineteen million years ago!
BirdNote®
A Giant Parrot of New Zealand
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[ambient: NatureSFX 37 Tropical Forest Morning]
There are parrots — and then there are PARROTS!
New Zealand, which is home to the world’s largest parrot — the flightless Kakapo — was once the home to an even larger parrot — much larger.
[ambient: NatureSFX 37 Tropical Forest Morning]
Fossils from between sixteen and nineteen million years ago include those of a massive parrot that stood three feet tall, about hip-high to most adult humans. It’s estimated that the bird weighed around fifteen pounds and probably didn’t fly.
The giant parrot has been christened Heracles inexpectatus [HAIR-o-kleez in-ex-pek-TAH-toos]. Heracles is the Greek name for the brawny demi-god the Romans knew as Hercules. And inexpectatus? You guessed it: totally unexpected. Researchers have given the bird a more contemporary nickname: Squawkzilla.
[ambient: NatureSFX 37 Tropical Forest Morning]
Being flightless wouldn’t have put Squawkzilla at particular risk, because New Zealand lacked land predators back then. No one knows just what the giant parrot ate. But living on the floor of a subtropical forest quite likely offered enough types of fruits for Squawkzilla to grow big and strong.
It’s safe to say he was probably eating quite a bit more than his smaller, modern-day counterparts.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
Support for BirdNote is provided by Jerry Tone and Martha Wyckoff from Seattle, Washington and generous listeners around the world.
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Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Ambient: NatureSFX 37 Tropical Forest Morning
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2020 BirdNote April 2020 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# HERINE-01-2020-04-15 HERINE-01
[source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/08/fossils-15-pound-par…]
Bob Sundstrom
Writer