The kākāpō is the world's only flightless parrot and also its heaviest

nature & planetWikipedia

The kākāpō is the world's only flightless parrot and also its heaviest

the gist

The kākāpō is a large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot found only in New Zealand, with owl-like forward-facing eyes and a facial disc like an owl's. It cannot fly, because on predator-free islands its ancestors lost flight muscles and kept a sturdy body instead. Adult males weigh roughly 1.5 to 3 kilograms, making it the heaviest parrot. It is also one of the longest-lived birds, with a reported lifespan of up to 100 years. Introduced cats, rats, ferrets and stoats nearly wiped it out. The Kākāpō Recovery Programme, started in 1995, now tags and names every known bird, and the total population was 325 as of 2026.

how it works

Predator-free islands let birds stop investing in flight, so their wing muscles shrank while their bodies grew heavier. Recovery depends on protecting every nest and chick and moving birds to islands free of predators.

so what

The kākāpō is one of the clearest examples of how invasive mammals can push a species to the brink. Its recovery shows that intensive, individual-by-individual conservation can work even when a species is down to a few hundred birds.

fun fact

The kākāpō is the only parrot known to use a lek breeding system, where males gather to display to females.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗