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~ Kakarikis ~
The three
species of Kākāriki or New Zealand parakeets are the most common species of
parakeet in the genus Cyanoramphus, family Psittacidae. The birds' Māori name,
which is the most commonly used, means "small parrot", and is also used as the
term for the colour green.
The three species on mainland New Zealand are the Yellow-crowned Parakeet
Cyanoramphus auriceps, the Orange-fronted Parakeet C. malherbi and the
Red-crowned Parakeet or Red-fronted Parakeet, C. novaezelandiae. All are
native to New Zealand, and have become endangered as a result of habitat
destruction following European settlement and nest predation by introduced
species of mammal. Scarce on the mainland, they have survived well on outlying
islands, and also through breeding in captivity since they make good pets. A
licence from the New Zealand Department of Conservation is now required to
breed them in captivity.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis has indicated that the Orange-fronted Parakeet is a
separate species and not just a colour variation of the Yellow-crowned
Parakeet. The Orange-fronted Parakeet is highly endangered, with less than 200
individuals remaining in the North Canterbury region of the South Island.
Furthermore, Chatham Island's Yellow-crowned Parakeet and the red-crowned
populations of New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and the subantarctic islands have
been determined to be distinct species (Boon et al., 2001).
There is one remaining subspecies of the Red-crowned Parakeet, the Chatham
Island Red-crowned Parakeet, C. n. chathamensis, all other forms having been
split off.
The
red-crowned parakeets are common in aviculture and they are relatively easy to
breed. They lay about 3 to 5 white eggs in a nesting box. A cinnamon colour
variety and a pied variety are available.
This article is licensed under
the GNU Free
Documentation License. It uses material from
Wikipedia.
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