Restricted to the dense mountain forests and shrubland of Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia, the kagu is the only living species of both its genus and family. Its loud cries, which echo over great distances in the early hours of the morning, have inspired New Caledonia’s Indigenous population, the Kanaks, to refer to this mysterious bird as the ‘ghost of the forest’. Sadly, kagus are in a very precarious position. It’s estimated that there are fewer than 2,000 individuals left in the wild.