Editing Kea (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
The kea is one of nine living [[Endemism|endemic]] [[Parrots of New Zealand|parrot species in New Zealand]].<ref name="Field Guide NZ">{{cite book |last1=Heather |first1=Barrie |last2=Robertson |first2=Hugh |title=The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand |date=2015}}</ref>

[[File:KeaArthursPass.jpg|thumb|Kea sign at Arthur's Pass]]
The kea ranges from lowland river valleys and coastal forests of the South Island's west coast up to [[Alpine climate|alpine]] regions of the [[South Island]] such as [[Arthur's Pass]] and [[Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park]]. It is closely associated throughout its range with the southern beech (''[[Nothofagus]]'') forests in the alpine ridge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=CJR |last2=Hyvonen |first2=P |last3=Fraser |first3=M |last4=Pickard |first4=CR |year=2007|title=Atlas of bird distribution in New Zealand |location=Wellington |publisher=The Ornithological Society of New Zealand}}</ref>

Apart from occasional vagrants, kea today are not found in the North Island. Subfossil kea bones have been found in sand dunes at [[Mataikona River|Mataikona]] in the eastern [[Wairarapa]], [[Poukawa]] near [[Hastings, New Zealand|Hastings]], and [[Waitomo]], indicating that they ranged through lowland forest over much of the North Island until the arrival of Polynesian settlers about 750 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Holdaway | first1 = R.N. | last2 = Worthy | first2 = T.H. | year = 1993 | title = First North Island fossil record of kea, and morphological and morphometric comparison of kea and kaka | url = http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_40_2_95.pdf | journal = Notornis | volume = 40 | issue = 2 | pages = 95–108 | doi = 10.63172/456858bzxoln | access-date = 29 September 2011 | archive-date = 24 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201124154111/http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_40_2_95.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> Kea subfossils are not restricted to alpine areas, being commonly found in lowland or coastal sites in the South Island.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Nicholls|first=Jenny|date=15 September 2018|title=A bold idea to save the kea|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/planet/a-bold-idea-to-save-the-kea/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126200715/https://www.noted.co.nz/planet/a-bold-idea-to-save-the-kea/|archive-date=26 January 2019|access-date=2019-05-08|website=Noted|language=en}}</ref> The current distribution of kea reflects the effects of mammalian predators, including humans, which have driven them out of lowland forests into the mountains.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/planet/a-bold-idea-to-save-the-kea/|title=A bold idea to save the kea|last=Noted|website=Noted|language=en|access-date=2019-05-08|archive-date=26 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126200715/https://www.noted.co.nz/planet/a-bold-idea-to-save-the-kea/|url-status=dead}}</ref>