Heracles the 'largest parrot ever': New fossil discovered in Otago

Tuesday, 6 August 2019

Reconstruction of the giant parrot Heracles dwarfing 8cm high bids on the forest floor.

New Zealand was once home to incredible ancient birds like the moa and Haast's eagle, and now apparently a species of giant parrot.

A fossil of the world's largest extinct parrot has been uncovered in Central Otago.

Experts believe the huge bird was around 1 metre tall and weighed around 7kg.

The bird has been named Heracles inexpectatus - a nod to its Herculean myth-like size and strength, and the unexpected nature of the discovery.

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Graphic showing the Heracles inexpectatus silhouette next to a woman of average height and a common magpie.

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Flinders University associate professor Trevor Worthy said New Zealand was known for its birds, but 'until now, no-one has ever found an extinct giant parrot – anywhere'.

The New Zealand fossil is about the size of the giant 'dodo' pigeon of the Mascarenes and twice the size of the critically endangered flightless kākāpō, previously the largest known parrot.

In May, the first preserved moa footprints in the South Island were discovered.

Like the kākāpō, it was a member of an ancient New Zealand group of parrots that appear to be more primitive than parrots that thrive today on Australia and other continents.

The new parrot was found in fossils up to 19 million years old from near St Bathans in Central Otago. It's an area well known for a rich assemblage of fossil birds from the Miocene period.

'We have been excavating these fossil deposits for 20 years, and each year reveals new birds and other animals,' Worthy said.

Professor Mike Archer from UNSW Sydney said Heracles was 'the largest parrot ever'.

'… No doubt with a massive parrot beak that could crack wide open anything it fancied, may well have dined on more than conventional parrot foods, perhaps even other parrots.'

Heracles lived in a diverse subtropical forest where many species of laurels and palms grew with podocarp trees.

'Undoubtedly, these provided a rich harvest of fruit important in the diet of Heracles and the parrots and pigeons it lived with. But on the forest floor Heracles competed with adzebills and the forerunners of moa,' Professor Suzanne Hand from UNSW Sydney.

Canterbury Museum's Paul Scofield said the St Bathans fauna provided the only insight into the terrestrial birds and other animals that lived in New Zealand since dinosaurs roamed the land more than 66 million years ago.

A computer graphic of the main leg bone from the Heracles, compared to that of a kakapo can be seen here.

An article on the giant parrot was published in the Biology Letters journal on Wednesday.

In May, tractor driver Michael Johnston discovered the first preserved moa footprints in the South Island, along an Otago river.