Aja Pendergrast, Auckland Zoo
Update: As of April 2024 Auckland Zoo no longer has Antipodes Island parakeets.
Check out these two lovebirds! We recently received a new male Antipodes Island kākāriki that we paired with our existing female.
After completing his quarantine, our male kākāriki received a full health check from our vets including fitting a band onto his leg and a microchip into his breast muscle, so that he can be easily identified in future.
Watch these two lovebirds meet for the first time.
These green-plumed parakeets (kākāriki māhue) are endemic to Antipodes Island, the most remote of all New Zealand’s subantarctic islands and home to seals, birds, plants and invertebrates – some of which are found nowhere else on earth!
Known for foraging and nesting on the ground Antipodes kākāriki are vulnerable to predation by introduced mice. As part of Million Dollar Mouse, the Department of Conservation carried out extensive mice-trapping on the island with donations received from the New Zealand public and other conservation organisations – this was a great success with the island now free of mice.
Come and see how our pair are doing by visiting our beautiful New Zealand bird aviary in The Islands, Te Wao Nui.
