Kea
Nestor notabilis
— Where the name comes from
Nestor is the old king of Pylos in the Iliad, the eldest and wisest of the Greeks before Troy; notabilis means “noteworthy”. Kea is the Māori word, and it is the animal’s call: a long shrill mewing that echoes off the walls of the New Zealand Alps. It is the only parrot in the world that lives above the tree line, in snow.
— Facts
- Group
- Birds · Aves
- Order
- Parrots
- Habitat
- Montane forest and alpine grassland of the South Island
- Range
- New Zealand, South Island
- Size
- 46–50 cm, 800–1,000 g
- Diet
- Roots, leaves, fruit, insects, carrion, sheep fat
- Lifespan
- 20 years in the wild
— Characteristics
- 01
It dismantles windscreen wipers, rubber seals and unattended rucksacks.
- 02
It solves multi-step mechanical puzzles that defeat monkeys.
- 03
It nests under rocks, in burrows as much as six metres deep.
— What sets it apart
It has a contagious laugh. Among its calls is a particular modulated warble, and when researchers played it from a loudspeaker in the valleys the keas that heard it broke off what they were doing and began to play with one another, tumbling and chasing: it is not an invitation addressed to anyone, it is a sound that puts its listeners in a good mood. Among mammals, only we and rats were known to have anything similar. Until 1970 the state paid a bounty for every beak handed in, and over a hundred and fifty thousand were killed.
