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New Zealand is geographically isolated, and originally lacked any mammalian predators, hence parrots evolved to fill habitats from the ground dwelling kākāpō to the alpine dwelling kea as well as a variety of forest species. The arrival of Māori, then European settlers with their attendant animals, habitat destruction and even deliberate targeting, has resulted in their numbers plummeting. Today one species is on the brink of extinction and three other species range from vulnerable to critically endangered. Further parrot species were not introduced by acclimatisation societies, but occasion releases, both deliberate and accidental, have resulted in self-sustaining populations of some Australian species. == Endemic species == Apart from the occasional bird blown in from Australia, all the parrot species naturally occurring in New Zealand are found nowhere else (endemic). There are eight surviving parrot species endemic to New Zealand. The mainland species are the kea (''Nestor notabilis''), the New Zealand kaka (''Nestor meridionalis''), the kākāpō (''Strigops habroptila''), and three species of kākāriki: the yellow-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus auriceps''), the red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae'') and the orange-fronted parakeet (''Cyanoramphus malherbi''). The other New Zealand parrot species are the Chatham kaka (''N.'' sp.) and Chatham parakeet (''Cyanoramphus forbesi''), from the Chatham Islands, and the Antipodes parakeet (''Cyanoramphus unicolor'') and Reischek's parakeet (''Cyanoramphus hochstetteri''), endemic to Antipodes Island. The total kākāpō population of 126 individuals (2012) is being carefully managed to save it from extinction. Malherbe's parakeet is ''critically endangered'', the kākā is listed as ''endangered'', and the kea is ''vulnerable''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Parrots of New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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