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The Unnatural History of the Kākāpō
Film (Excerpts) – 2009
This documentary tells the tenuous survivor story of the kākāpō: the nocturnal flightless green parrot with "big sideburns and Victorian gentlemen's face" (as comedian Stephen Fry put it). A sole breeding population for the evolutionary oddity (the world's largest parrot; it can live up to 120 years) is marooned on remote Codfish Island. The multi award-winning film had rare access to the recovery programme and its dramatic challenges. This excerpt sees a rugged journey to the island to search for a kākāpō named Bill, and the chance to hear the "bizarre ballad" of its mating boom.
If naturalists go to heaven (about which there is considerable ecclesiastical doubt) I hope that I will be furnished with a troop of kākāpō to amuse me instead of television.– British naturalist Gerald Durrell, in 1989
Key Cast & Crew
Leyton Langeveld
Ian McGee
Chris Tegg
Scott Mouat
Stacey Hertnon
Scott Mouat
Acknowledgements
Made with funding from John Darby and NHNZ
Music
Soundtrack features vocals by Ariana Tikao
'Te Heke' and 'Kākāpō' composed by Ariana Takao and Leyton Langeveld, and performed by Ariana Tikao
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