I would like to open this entry with a question. What do you think of when you hear the phrase “a bird that cannot fly”? Do you think of a creature that is struggling in life, or do you think of something that is thriving in a way that’s unconventional from the majority of their kind??

Now, of course the best of flightless birds still fare off much worse than the top birds that can fly, such as eagles, owls, and corvids. But there are still a handful of flightless birds that are making a living in their own ways.?

For example, ostriches have decent running speed and large size for both defence and intimidation, while penguins have pretty much replaced wings with flippers so they swim faster than torpedoes, and they have thick fat and special feathers that allow them to survive the extreme cold. That way, penguins can effectively reduce danger by living in an environment where very few predators can reach them.

The animal kingdom has proven to us that you don’t need to fly to survive. Heck, us humans have shown that better than any animal. And yes, the ability to fly is indeed a beneficial asset. Yet, despite that, for birds, the ability to fly makes the difference between life and death. The amount of flightless birds are vastly outnumbered birds that can fly, because many more flightless birds have gone extinct. Just goes to show you how reliant birds are on the ability to fly.?

By now, you may have noticed this: if a flightless bird has an alternate ability that can compensate or substitute the benefits that flying brings, they can still survive pretty well. But even the best flightless birds are only considered moderately successful if you look at the entirety of the bird species. For example, very few flightless birds are on the top of the food chain like eagles and falcons. But this flightless bird that I’m going to introduce to you is perhaps even more perplexing.?

Allow me to introduce you to the kakapo. These are flightless variants of parrots. They’re bigger than average parrots, but still quite small in size, being around 24 inches tall, which is around 61cm. As they are completely unable to fly, not even a bit, they dwell on the ground and are exclusively herbivorous. You may have never seen or even heard of the Kakapo before, and to answer that question, first I need to tell you how this flightless parrot survives.

As mentioned before, Kakapos cannot fly even by the slightest. In fact, their only way of mobility is by walking on those two little bird legs. They’re not good swimmers either, which is extra unfortunate, because webbed feet for swimming would actually make walking easier. But even by walking, the kakapo is not good at mobility. Kakapos have a max speed of 5 miles per hour, respectable for humans, pathetic for the unforgiving wilderness.

So, mobility is not where the Kakapo soars high. But the other feats are even worse. Kakapos have very few weapons for offense. All they have are their foot claws and beaks, which are not much different from the other parrots, and parrots aren’t exactly known for how dangerous their claws and beaks are. Kakapos also don’t have any protective body parts either, such as shells or thick hide. So when kakapos get into fights, while they can fend themselves off for a few rounds, winning a fight, especially against anything carnivourous, is often out of their reach.?

The Kakapo’s only line of defence is camouflage. You may have noticed that most Kakapos in the wild have greenish feathers with a mossy-looking texture, almost like they’re covered with vegetation. When a Kakapo spots danger, they freeze in one place and try to blend in with the grassy terrain. Kakapos live in places with many green plants, so this approach is at least sensible when trying to avoid danger. Kakapos are also mostly nocturnal, so doing this at night can add a boost to their chances of survival.?

But what about intelligence? Kakapos are a type of parrot, and parrots are one of the smartest bird species, with their only intellectual rivals being the corvids. Well, kakapos are indeed intelligent for birds, but they have so little else going on for them that their advantages in intelligence aren't nearly enough for them to effectively increase survivability.

Now, yes, birds that use camouflage to evade danger isn’t anything too outlandish. But rarely is it ever the only trick a bird can pull off. Relying on camouflage feathers is clearly too ineffective in avoiding danger. And so, Kakapos are only found on secluded islands where there are no land-dwelling predators. What place matches this description? That’s right, New Zealand.?

Yes, that’s right. Much like the much better known Kiwis, another small flightless bird with few effective survival skills that lives exclusively in New Zealand, Kakapos can only be found in New Zealand, as any of them living elsewhere would have long been extinct. But even in New Zealand, they are not faring so much better than the long dead foreigners.?

Kakapos are so lacking in combat prowess that they could get steamrolled in a fight with an average housecat brought to New Zealand by the average human resident. So, even on the secluded predator-free paradise of New Zealand, the Kakapo is still in a hard spot due to human activity, and the animals that humans brought with them.?

In 1995, only a total of 50 Kakapos were documented to be alive. Yes, only 50 were left by 1995. Very fortunately, the Kakapo population is increasing. In 2022, there were a total of 251 Kakapos reported. In fact, the Kakapo population in 2022 saw a 25% increase compared to the previous year, which means Kakapos recently saw a boom. Granted, Kakapos are still considered “critically endangered”, which is just 2 levels above “extinct”, and 1 level above “extinct in the wild”.?

Now, I know what you might be thinking. This animal sounds like it shouldn’t even exist. It should’ve been extinct a long while ago, like those giraffes with short necks. How can an animal this bad at surviving still manage to avoid the gruesome fate that so many other animals, some that are much better at surviving than the Kakapo, have faced? And that brings me to one of the reasons why this animal stands out so much for me, to the point I dedicate an article for them.

Kakapos have almost nothing going well for them. Even though Kakapos face countless disadvantages and hardships, they are still trying to survive by doing whatever they can, latching on to every advantage for survival they can get, as few as there are. They are not intimidated by how bad they are at surviving. After all, Kakapos have literally wandered around the doorway of extinction, and against all odds, their dire situation is getting better. Of course, things are still grim, but that’s not stopping the Kakapos, am I right??

We currently live in a time and society where it takes creativity, versatility, and novelty to survive and thrive. Each day, every person, every creature, and every being are doing whatever they can to carve out a niche to just exist in a good condition. Everything in existence must adhere to this rule, from the advanced humans, to the nigh extinct kakapos, down to the lowest of bacteria.?

No matter how well you’re doing in life, you need to carve out a niche that allows you to reach that degree of “wellness”. Carving out niches is an open-field game that doesn’t have any rules nor restrictions. You can either do something better than anyone else, or you can walk pathways that have not been walked by anyone before, and try things and methods that no one has tried before.?

And here’s the fun part. Any one advantage can carry you to go forward to a certain degree. Some advantages allow you to merely survive, hanging on the edge between existing and extinction. Some others allow you to thrive and climb above the upper limit of your environment.?

Of course, with advantages, there are also disadvantages that limit the effectiveness of advantages. But the unknown potential for anything to work is indeed an exciting concept. This is somehow both morbid and beautiful. The extremely high stakes and the punishing fate of failing to do so is cruel, but the endless possibilities of making something work makes this fun and entertaining.

I hope the story of the kakapos can let you know: no matter how good or bad things are, it is never too late to find something to improve your situation. It really is what they say: “It always gets better.”