Invention to Save Kakapos and Their Parasites

For many decades, the health of kakapos in New Zealand has been affected by the decline in parasites, making the parrots unhealthy and endangered. Extinction is possible for both, so people must take action. An invention I would create is a tool to help make parasites and remove any organisms that harm the parrots, allowing them to be healthy again.

Firstly, this machine would benefit parasites because the association between the kakapo and the parasite helps both, so they need each other for survival. Dr. Digby said, “Parasites may well have a role to play in kakapo health.”

The second reason I would make that creation is that all organisms have a part to play in the ecosystem. As Alexander Boast, a paleoecologist at the Bioeconomy Science Institute in New Zealand, said, “Whether it’s a large, flightless parrot or whether it’s a tapeworm, they all potentially have a role to play.” It can become a disruption to the ecosystem if the kakapo and the parasite go extinct, so we need to help these birds.

Thirdly, parasites are affecting the kakapos’ health, if not their population. According to Andrew Digby, a scientist and kakapo specialist at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, kakapos are “still critically endangered, and by no means out of the woods, even though the population is growing.” It’s the population of the parasites decreasing that is making that happen.

Another reason the invention would be beneficial is that the big decrease in parasites will affect many organisms, especially kakapos. My invention would release parasites into the kakapo’s body and inside. Researchers in New Zealand rely on kakapo droppings to evaluate the changes in the parrot’s parasites, and when talking about how many kinds of parasites are found in modern droppings compared to the amount found in ancient ones, Dr. Boast said, “The level of loss was much higher than we expected. I mean, 85 percent of species found in ancient populations are missing in modern ones — that’s extremely high.” In addition to that, research is questioning whether conservationists should reconsider using specific veterinary actions that are used to keep the parrots well.

Around seven centuries ago, settlers who arrived in New Zealand almost made the kakapos go extinct. Hunting and deforestation caused the kakapo’s endangerment. Their population has been increasing in the latest decades, with help from humans, but their parasite population is decreasing, which has been making them sick. Although many humans have been helping to bring back the kakapo population, they haven’t been using all their effort. They have taken “a fairly benign view,” as Dr. Digby says, assisting only those who have urgent problems. But ALL of the parrots need help, so we should help EVERY one of them.

A way to save these endangered and unhealthy kakapos is to create a method that will provide the parasites needed for the birds to be healthy. Save the kakapos!

SOURCE: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/science/kakapo-parrots-parasites-extinction.html?searchResultPosition=2