Mating

The Kakapo have a mating system called a Lek system. All the males will come to the traditional mating grounds in summer around once every 4 years. At the mating grounds, every male will try to get a nest shaped like a bowl. The male kakapo then does some housekeeping. He plucks the bowl free of any plants and builds a path that leads up to the nest. The path can be up to 50 meters long and helps the female find her male. Here is a picture.



The male sits next to the bowl(nest) and booms into it. The bowl causes the sound to project out in to the forest. The boom can be heard up to 5km away depending on the shape and size of the bowl. When a female hears the boom, she goes down the track to where the male is booming. At the nest, the male does a type of dance where he walks backwards and does a little spin. His girlfriend is impressed by his singing and dancing skills and so the mating occurs.

The Kakapo is the only living parrot that mates using a Lek system.