KEA KILLS RAT AT LONDON ZOO

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 13

KEA KILLS RAT AT LONDON ZOO

Nocturnal Drama

BIRD PROBABLY SENT FROM WELLINGTON

Twelve thousand miles from its native mountain fastnesses of the Southern Alps, a kea parrot in the London zoo one night, last October fought a bloody battle with a gigantic rat while keepers ami public slept. In the morning the bird was louud quite uninjured, but for the loss 01. a handful of feathers. The rat. however, was terribly mutilated and was dead when picked up. , Rats in aviaries, reptile, mid small mammal houses are among the worst enemies of the zoo authorities. Dangerous serpents have in the past been set at large by rats nibbling through their enclosures to obtain food. Today the most elaborate precautions are taken to prevent rats burrowing unto the quarters of any dangerous or valuable creatures. In the aviary, however, the quarters of the larger birds are evidently less carefully protected. At any rate, this particular rat was able to gnaw its way into the kea's cage io get at the seed, chopped meat, and berries on which it was fed. The kea was disturbed, and swooped down on the rat. which, wit.li its powerful beak and taolus, it was easily able to dispatch. It received only a few nips from the rat’s sharp incisors. Sent From Wellington. The kea was probably one of a consignment sent to London from the Wellington zoo some years ago. Keas, though convicted sheep-killers, do not kill these animals outright, but merely devour the kidney-fat, leaving the animal to perish. To kill a large and active rat. capable and ready to defend itself, would be a more formidable task, in spite of the smaller size of the victim. “A kea 'would be well able to finish off a rat,” said Air. J. Langridge, curator of the Wellington zoo, to whom the incident was referred. He said that, like other parrots, keas were not normally carnivorous. Those at tiff: Wellington zoo were fed on ordinary vegetables. No rat-murder had been recorded there.

The sheep-killing propensities of the kea have been developed entirely since the advent of the white men mid his domestic animals. Even today in the wjld. state only a minority of keas ever taste mutton. ■The killing: is usually carried out by old and experienced birds, the shooting of which at once ends depredations in that locality. The natural food of the kea. consists of mountain roots and grubs and berries found in abundance in the forest. An Interesting Bird. i A particularly beautiful olive-green bird, with bright orange under-wings, the kea is one of New Zealand's most interesting mid remarkable birds. Its boldness and curiosity made it. an amusing visitor to South Island mountain. camps.. It is of a playful disposition; a flock of keas will queue up along the rooftop of a musterer’s hut, and will take it in turn to toboggan down the steep tin roof and. tumble off the" eaves, when they spread their wings and fly back for their next turn. As their claws make an unpleasant din on th,e tin, as each ride is accompanied by shrieks of applause and ns the whole performance takes place in the early hours of the morning, it is not always welcomed by (be inmates of the hut.

The kea’s curiosity used to be taken advantage of by professional, hunters shooting for the Government bounty, when heads were worth up to 7/6 each. The hunter would ascend to a mountain spur find would 'wave a red rag, whistle, and generally make himself as conspicuous as possible. When he had drawn a satisfactory audience Of keas, lie would not shdot them, for fear that half the flock would escape. He would go for a walk, the keas hopping after him, till he came to a high rock or a sudden declivity. He'would drop out of sight 'behind this and. as tlie first kea came to tlie top would knock it down beside him dead with a blow of a short stick. The next would conic to see what had happened to its mate, and so on till all were slaughtered. Keas are still kept under severe control in the sheep districts of the Southern Alps, but: are protected in Hie Mount Cook region, where they form a valuable attraction for the entertainment of tourists,