Kākāpō stars in game to save 'weird' endangered species

Kākāpōs star alongside the purple frog and other Zoological oddities in the EDGE species programme. Photo / Peter Meecham, Wikimedia Commons, On the Edge

A London game designer singled out New Zealand's flightless parrot to be the star of a computer game.

Kākāpō Run was made by conservation group On The Edge to bring the parrot's plight to a global audience.

Since 2019 the group have highlighted the "weirder" endangered species that often get overlooked by global conservation campaigns in favour of majestic Siberian tigers, or white rhinos.

Tegan the Kākāpō joins the Eye-Eye, Pangolin and Purple Frog as the latest loveably-odd creature to get computer game attention from On the Edge.

"So much about the kākāpō just lends itself to a runner game," says founder and chair, Beth Blood. "It freezes up when it's scared, it can't fly… and it's so cute and full of character."

Meet the kākāpō: On the Edge designed the game with help from DoC and Ngāi Tahu. Photo / Supplied

CEO Jonathan Baillie says his group are focused on "evolutionarily distinct" species.
"These are one-of-a-kind species on the verge of extinction," he says.

The game challenges kākāpō to race through the streets of Christchurch and Fiordland trails to the safety of the predator-free Codfish Island / Whenua Hou motu.
At last count there were only 201 birds according to Ngāi Tahu's Kākāpō Recovery Programme.

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More than raising awareness he says the company are donating to programmes from DoC and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu to help New Zealand's rarest bird.

"We're committed to actually investing in projects on the ground," says Baillie. "We support a captive breeding programme for the kākāpō."

Part of this involves replacing equipment and introducing GPS monitoring to better understand the big green birds.

DoC and Ngāi Tahu were consulted on the design of the game in late 2020.

The Kākāpō Recovery Programme said they "loved working with the team at On the Edge" and applauded their work "creating awesome educational content to help inspire the next generation of conservationists."

Research into the outcomes of gaming used as 'conservation marketing' showed the app increased not only awareness but desire to help with conservation programmes.

Studies have shown that computer games can be harnessed for conservation causes. Photo / Screenshot

"Our results showed not only that players' knowledge increased while playing the game but also that they increasingly perceived their actions as having an impact on the environment and were more likely to volunteer for a conservation organisation," said Oxford University research fellow, Diogo Veríssimo.

On the Edge gets its name from the EDGE species ('Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered') conservation principals from the Zoological Society of London.

New Zealand is home to several EDGE species including the Kākāpō, South Island Kokako, and Rockwren (pīwauwau), which are evolutionarily unique.

Lear more and play the game at ontheedge.org