| Antipodes Parakeet | |
|---|---|
| A parakeet in Wellington Zoo's breeding program | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Psittacidae |
| Subfamily: | Platycercinae |
| Tribe: | Platycercini |
| Genus: | Cyanoramphus |
| Species: | C. unicolor |
| Binomial name | |
| Cyanoramphus unicolor (Lear, 1831) |
|
The Antipodes Parakeet or Antipodes Island Parakeet (Cyanoramphus unicolor) is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, one of two parrot species found on the islands. It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus at 30 cm (12 in) long.[2] The parakeets eat leaves, buds, grass, and tussock stalks, as well as sometimes feeding on seeds, flowers, and will scavenge dead seabirds. The Antipodes Parakeet also preys on Grey-backed Storm-petrels. It will enter burrows to kill incubating adults, even dig at the entrance if it is too small.[3]. In this way it is rare amongst parrots for its use of other birds as prey items, a feature shared by kea in the Kaikoura region. Antipodes Parakeets spend much of their time on the ground and in very small groups, pair or solitary. Restricted to the islands that bear their name they are also present on the mainland in small numbers in captivity which was foundered by less than 20 birds.