Amazing kākāpō gets small dose of good news

There’s a bit of good news for Aotearoa’s amazing kākāpō, the world’s only flightless parrot.

Efforts to preserve the extraordinary bird – population about 237 – include frequent doses of antibiotics to treat conditions including so-called "crusty bum" disease, exudative cloacitis.

What if kākāpō developed the antibiotic resistance which threatens other animals, including humans?

A scientific study focused on just that topic suggests that so far, kākāpō are okay.

Led out of the University of Auckland by PhD student Natalie Ayriss and senior researcher Professor Mike Taylor, the study suggests antibiotics are yet to have negative consequences on the birds and remain effective.

The scientists sampled kākāpō on two islands for signs of antibiotic resistance and also honed in on an individual male known as Joe, who was being treated with antibiotics.

There’s still the risk that microbes in kākāpō could develop antibiotic resistance through antibiotic treatments or via transmission from other birds or even humans, the scientists wrote in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

Heavier than any other parrot, weighing as much as four kilograms, kākāpō live on four offshore islands and at Maungatautari sanctuary in the Waikato. 

Despite being flightless, the kākāpō uses its strong claws and bill to climb high into trees to feed. Another unique trait: it's the only “lek breeding” parrot, meaning males mount competitive displays to be chosen by females each breeding season.

Study co-authors were from the Kākāpō Recovery Programme at the Department of Conservation, the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, the University of Otago, and the University of Edinburgh.

The scientists thanked Ngāi Tahu, the Kākāpō Recovery Team, New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) and Auckland Genomics Ltd.