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2009·Early YouTube·informative

Sirocco the kākāpō

A critically endangered New Zealand parrot attempted to mate with a zoologist's head on the BBC, and became a national spokesbird.

You might remember it as shagged by a rare parrot, Sirocco Last Chance to See

An early online video

This Moment began as a television broadcast, not as a video upload. Originally published on broadcast.

The story

What this was

It first appeared in 2009, during early YouTube.

It is one of very few natural history clips to become a global meme, and the only one to have improved a conservation programme measurably. Sirocco had been hand-reared and imprinted on humans, which is why he behaved as he did — a detail that turns the joke into a genuinely sad fact about a species with almost no members left.

Sirocco was made Official Spokesbird for Conservation by the prime minister of New Zealand in January 2010, has drawn thousands of visitors on tour, and maintains social media accounts through human intermediaries. Kākāpō numbers have risen since. The clip is the most effective piece of conservation communication the species has ever had.

You were there

More from 2009

The same internet

Early YouTube

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Grouped by explicit relationships where evidence exists, and by shared theme otherwise.

Behind the record

Where it came from

There is no original upload to identify: this Moment did not begin as one. ViralWorld holds no copy of it either — what it was, when it appeared and what people called it is the record.

Nothing here is claimed to be the first publication of this Moment, because the first publication was not an upload. This Moment began as a television broadcast, not as a video upload. Originally published on broadcast.

Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.

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