Kakapo the reason for its massive decline since the introduction of dogs, cats and mustelids (see "Conservation: Human impact"). The kakapo is the only species of flightless parrot in the world, and the only flightless bird that has a lek breeding system. Males loosely gather in an arena and compete with each other to attract females. Females listen to the males as they display, or "lek". They choose a mate based on the quality of his display; they are not pursued by the males in any overt way. No pair bond is formed; males and females meet only to mate. During
Kakapo pre-Polynesian times, the kakapo was New Zealand's third most common bird and it was widespread on all three main islands. However, the kakapo population in New Zealand has declined massively since human settlement of the country. Since 1891, conservation efforts have been made to prevent extinction. The most successful scheme has been the Kakapo Recovery Programme; this was implemented in 1995 and continues. The first factor in the decline of the kakapo was the arrival of humans. Māori folklore suggests that the kakapo was found throughout the country when the Polynesians first arrived in Aotearoa 700 years ago. Subfossil and