Callaeas

Kōkako are two species of forest bird in the genus Callaeas which are endemic to New Zealand, the endangered North Island kōkako (Callaeas wilsoni) and the presumed extinct South Island kōkako (Callaeas cinereus). They are both slate-grey with wattles and have black masks. They belong to a family containing five species of New Zealand wattlebirds, the other three being two species of tīeke (saddleback) and the extinct huia. Previously widespread, kōkako populations throughout New Zealand have been decimated by the predations of mammalian invasive species such as possums, stoats, cats and rats, and their range has contracted significantly. In the past, this bird was called the New Zealand crow. It is not closely related to the crow, but looks like one from a distance.

==Taxonomy== The genus Callaeas was introduced in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster to accommodate a single species, the South Island kōkako, which is therefore the type species. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek word kallaia for a cock's wattles.