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  Profile

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  In flight

Flightless Club

Kagu

Rhynochetos jubatus

• mythic
• 10 km/h
• Endangered

Flightless grey ghost of New Caledonia with a punk crest. Barks like a dog at dawn.

Population

roughly 250-999 mature individuals (250-1,000 wild individuals total), decreasing

Habitat

Dense humid mountain forest and maquis/ultramafic shrubland, from sea level rainforest up to ~1,400 m elevation

Fun fact

The Kagu is the only bird in the world with nasal corns — bristly flaps of skin covering its nostrils — and it is a nearly flightless forest bird (despite normal-sized wings that lack flight musculature) that hunts on foot and performs an elaborate crest-raising courtship display instead of relying on flight; it also practices cooperative breeding in multi-male family units.

Range

Endemic to Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia (South Pacific); absent from the Loyalty Islands

Diet

Carnivorous ground forager — earthworms/annelids, snails, insects (beetles, grasshoppers, bugs), spiders, centipedes, larvae, and small lizards taken from leaf litter and soil

Size

0.55 m

Wingspan

0.775 m

Lifespan

20 years