kakapo

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ka·ka·po

(kä′kə-pō′)
n. pl. ka·ka·pos
A nocturnal, flightless New Zealand parrot (Strigops habroptila) with greenish plumage.

[Maori kākāpō : kākā, parrot; see kaka + , night (from Proto-Polynesian *, probably back-formation from Proto-Polynesian *poŋia, to be overtaken by night (interpeted as *po- + *-ŋia, passive suffix), from Proto-Oceanic *boŋia : Proto-Oceanic *boŋi, night, of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian origin (compare Kapampangan (Malayo-Polynesian language of central Luzon) *béŋi and Old Javanese weŋi) + possibly *a, suffix meaning "abounding in, overrun with").]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

kakapo

(ˈkɑːkəˌpəʊ)
n, pl -pos
(Animals) a ground-living nocturnal parrot, Strigops habroptilus, of New Zealand, resembling an owl
[C19: from Māori, literally: night kaka]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ka•ka•po

(ˌkɑ kəˈpoʊ)

n., pl. -pos (-ˈpoʊz)
a large, flightless, nocturnal parrot, Strigops habroptilus, of New Zealand.
[1835–45; < Maori]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Translations
kakapo
References in periodicals archive ?
In the wild, kakapos rummage around for plants from which they suck juices.
Kakapos in captivity used to get extra treats as well.
Biologists suspected that the problem was related to the way kakapos find a mate.
Kakapos once waddled all over New Zealand, but European settlers and their predatory animals found the ground-dwelling, strong-scented birds easy to catch.
Every few years, rimu trees burst out with a bumper crop of their tiny orange fruits, and the kakapos feast and lay eggs.
The world population of the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), a hefty, nocturnal parrot, numbers only about 86 birds, says Bruce Robertson of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
For many thousands of years, kakapos did just fine.
Deer and goats ate the same plants that the kakapos ate.
Additional chapters include descriptions of bustards (arid-adapted Old World species); kakapos (a New Zealand nocturnal parrot), hummingbirds, and lyrebirds (Australian mimics); and African long-tailed whydahs and widowbirds.
YOU SMELL "I got to hold a kakapo," says Julie Hagelin of Swarthmore (Pa.) College.
A kakapo is a flightless parrot that roots around as a chicken does--a nocturnal chicken.