Tane: Boogie

...because I totally realised I have no New Zealand characters. I have a European beaver, a British owl, and a comes-from-pretty-much-anywhere-but-here turkey. I ended up making two characters.

This is Tane¹, a kakapo - a flightless parrot, endemic to New Zealand. As in, it is found nowhere else in the world. Kakapos live on the ground and are camouflaged. It is theorised this is because of New Zealand's now-extinct Haast's Eagle, which was too large to approach the forest floor. Unfortunately for the kakapo, they smell quite strongly so when ferrets, stoats and weasels were introduced (with the intention of killing rabbits... also introduced for bored hunters that got out of control - the rabbits that is), rabbits were ignored and these guys, along with other flightless birds like the kiwi, suffered a population plummet. They are now highly endangered.
I find it odd that the pukeko (another flightless bird) seems to be doing too well... do they not taste nice to mustelids or something?

_{1: This native Maori boy's name has several meanings (including "man") but in this event I chose it for the meaning "God of the forests". 'Cause that's cool. Said TA-nee.}