Kōkako
Kōkako | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Callaeidae |
Genus: | Callaeas Forster, JR, 1788 |
Type species | |
Glaucopis cinerea Gmelin, JF, 1788
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Species | |
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Kōkako
Taxonomy
The genus Callaeas was introduced in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster to accommodate a single species, the South Island kōkako, which is therefore the type species.[10][11] The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek word kallaia for a cock's wattles.[12]
The kōkako appears to be a remnant of an early expansion of
Description
The North Island kōkako, Callaeas wilsoni has blue wattles (although this colour develops with age: in the young of this bird they are actually coloured a light pink).[6][7][14] The South Island kōkako, Callaeas cinereus, by contrast has largely orange wattles, with only a small patch of blue at the base.[6][7]
Behaviour
The kōkako has a beautiful, clear, organ-like song.[6][8] Its call can carry for kilometres. Breeding pairs sing together in a bell-like duet for up to an hour in the early morning.[6][7][14] Different populations in different parts of the North Island (if any populations of the South Island kōkako remain they are at present unknown) have distinctly different songs.
The kōkako is a poor flier and seldom flies more than 100 metres.
Kōkako and humans
Māori myth refers to the kōkako in several stories. In one notable story, a kōkako gave Māui water as he fought the sun by filling its plump wattles with water and offering it to Māui to quench his thirst.[5] Māui rewarded kōkako for its kindness by stretching its legs until they were lean, long and strong, so that kōkako could easily leap through the forest to find food.[5]
The kōkako appears on the reverse side of the New Zealand $50 note.[16]
See also
References
- ^ The spelling kokako (without a macron) is common in New Zealand English.
- ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
- ^ a b "North Island Kokako Callaeas wilsoni". BirdLife International. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ "South Island Kokako Callaeas cinereus". BirdLife International. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Kōkako". Department of Conservation. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "New Zealand Ecology - Kokako". TerraNature. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Olliver, Narena (2005). "Kokako". New Zealand Birds. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Kōkako Crowned Bird of the Year". Forest & Bird. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ a b "North Island kokako". New Zealand Birds Online. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Forster, Johann Reinhold (1788). Enchiridion Historiae Naturali Inserviens (in Latin). Halle, Germany: Prostat apud Hemmerde et Schwetschke. p. 35.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 157.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- PMID 16527495.
- ^ a b c d e f "North Island Kokako". Tiritiri Matangi Open Sanctuary. Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Inc. Archived from the original on 2018-08-11. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ISBN 9781843654629.
- ^ "$50". Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
Further reading
- Murphy S.A., Flux I.A. and Double M.C. (2006) Recent evolutionary history of New Zealand's North and South Island Kokako (Callaeas cinerea) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Emu 106: 41–48.
External links
- Database and map of potential South Island kōkako reports
- Kokako Recovery A website developed by private enthusiasts to promote the Kokako Recovery Programme
- J. Innes; I. Flux (1999). "North Island kokako recovery plan" (PDF). Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
- Kōkako vocalizations (Xeno-canto)
- TerraNature page on wattlebirds
- Artworks featuring Kokako and
- Specimens of kōkako including albinos in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- The role of 1080 poison in pest control for kōkako recovery
- Kokako Lost - The Last Days of the Great Barrier and Coromandel Crow A journal of 26 months of field research on kōkako in the southern Coromandel, by Sid Marsh