AnimalvsAnimal
Nz boobook🦉

Photo: Aviceda · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesStrigiformesStrigidae
Birds

🦉Morepork

Ninox novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1788)

The morepork, also known by its Māori name ruru, is a small brown owl found in New Zealand, the Australian islands of Norfolk Island, and formerly on Lord Howe Island. Its names are onomatopoeic, owing to the species’ distinctive calls. Three subspecies of the morepork are recognised, one of which is extinct and another that exists only as a hybrid population.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 1/340th of your weight
Also called
Southern Boobook, mopoke
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.18 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
16 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Morepork

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.18 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.2 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.12 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.19 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.02 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
16 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Forest
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Insessorial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.2 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Morepork yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderStrigiformes
  5. ›familyStrigidae
  6. ›genusNinox
  7. ›speciesNinox novaeseelandiae
Full lineage
  1. orderSauria
  2. classBirds · Aves
  3. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  4. familyStrigidae
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  11. familyStrigidae
More

More about the Morepork

In other languages
Australianhaukkapöllö (fi), nínox de Nova Zelanda (ca), sovka ostrovní (cs), Newzealandsk Høgeugle (da), Kuckuckskauz (de), Ninox novaeseelandiae (es) … and 18 more languages
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