Largest parrot ever

Identified from two fossilized leg bones unearthed in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island in 2008 – and described in the journal Biology Letters in August 2019 – Heracles inexpectatus is estimated to have weighed 6.96 kilograms (15 pounds 5.5 ounces) and stood approximately 1 metre (3 feet 3 inches) tall. This would have made it approximately double the weight of today’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpo (Strigops habroptila), which is also endemic to New Zealand.

Heracles inexpectatus is estimated to have lived in the Early Miocene era, 23–16 million years ago.

Given its weight, it’s predicted that – like the kākāpo – this giant parrot would have been flightless, instead walking on the forest floor scavenging fruit, nuts and perhaps even meat. Although an unusual trait in parrots, an omnivorous diet is still observed today in the kea (Nestor notabilis), another large parrot native to New Zealand, which sometimes eats carrion and the chicks of petrels.

This discovery adds yet another supersized species to New Zealand’s already long list of extinct mega-avifauna, including the Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei, the largest eagle ever), New Zealand geese (Anatidae: Cnemiornis spp.) and emu-like giant moas (Dinornithiformes), which are among the largest birds ever, though not quite as hefty as Madagascar’s elephant birds (Aepyornithiformes).

The study was a collaboration between Flinders University, the University of New South Wales (both Australia) and Canterbury Museum (New Zealand), led by Professor Trevor Worthy of Flinders University.