Laughing+Kookaburra

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//Dacelo novaeguineae//

Order: Coraciiformes

=**__Husbandry Information__**=

Housing Requirements

 * Zoo Atlanta houses our kookaburra in an outdoor mew year round. She has windows by several perches which she appears to enjoy utilizing. She gets a heat lamp with window break at temperatures below 45 degrees and will be brought indoors for the night if temperatures are forcasted to fall below 25 for 2 nights in a row or below 20 for one night. We provide a water tub in which she bathes almost daily.

Diet Requirements

 * The female housed at the Hamill Family Play Zoo at Brookfield Zoo receives mice (defrosted), chicks (defrosted), and mealworms (live). Usually do not drink water since they get what they need from prey.
 * Zoo Atlanta feeds the same, along with crickets (defrosted), chicken breast, and occasionally rabbit and quail.

Veterinary Concerns

 * Beak can overgrow or scissor. This can be easily corrected through regular beak trims.
 * When weight managing the kookaburra appears to be able to slow metabolism in times of "food shortages" so be very cautious if trying to reduce weight.

Notes on Enrichment & Training

 * live fish
 * Easily trained with positive reinforcement.
 * Zoo Atlanta's female gets seasonally territorial over her mew with keepers whose relationship is not as strong. As a result we wear eye protection when trianing inside her mew and she is trained to station below eye level before a keeper enters her space. She has never shown any aggression during shows.

=__Programmatic Information__=

Tips on Presentation

 * We have guests hold a metal dish with a food peice inside and our kook sits on a perch and takes the food from the cup. This gives our guest an up close look at the bird, but also, the metal dish makes a clang when she grabs the food which shows off how "vicious" they can be.
 * An on-cue vocalization is always a huge hit, especially if you can get the entire call.
 * Food bashing is a fun behavior to present to the audience.
 * Zoo Atanta is currently training our female to bask a rubber snake in order to get this behavior on cue. She sometimes will bash her reinforcers during shows, but not reliably. We hope to add this behavior to her show routine.
 * The bashing of the mice and chicks is one that always engrosses nearby guests and gives us many opportunities to interpret. Since our exhibit, the Hamill Family Play Zoo, is intended for young children and their families we have had a few instances of guests being upset that their young child saw something they consider to be graphic. We have also had distressed guests rush over to staff and tell us that the bird is eating its baby (when she is fed chicks). We look at all of the above as opportunities to interpret and educate.

Tips on Handling

 * Jesses can be used but should not be left on the bird. Snap-on jesses work well.
 * Although some facilities use jesses, be aware that the legs of a kookaburra are not designed to hold their body wieght like the legs of hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls. Be very careful that your bird does not bate as damage can be done to muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones.
 * IAATE (the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators) position on jesses is to not use jess on non-raptors for the reasons above. Zoo Atlanta ues our kookaburra in trained flight demonstrations and does utilize her on the hand in outdoor settings.
 * Kooks can be trained, with positive reinforcement, to ride in a kennel for transport and then sit on a hand for presentation.

Potential Messaging

 * Largest member of the king fisher family, but doesn't eat a lot of fish
 * Zoo Atlanta points out the similarities between the kookaburra and our native belted kingfisher
 * Differences between carnivorous bird adaptations

=__Acquisition Information__=

=__Comments from the Rating System__=
 * Maryland Zoo in Baltimore: Excellent on hand, even better if call is on cue. Ours is phenomenal.

=__Natural History Information__=

Range and Habitat
Native to the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia. Introduced to western Australia and New Zealand.

Physical Description
Largest member of the Kingfisher family. 15 to 18 inches (39 to 45 cm) in size, 13 to 16 ounces (368 to 455 g) in weight. Females are slightly larger than are males.Kingfishers' forward-facing toes are joined from the base for one-third their length. This fusion of joints is called "syndactyly". Formidable beak that can be up to 4" in length (almost same length as its head). Dark brown wings with blue and/or white freckling. Off-white head, chest, and underside. Dark brown eye-stripe runs across its face, upper bill is black. Reddish-colored tail has black bars across it. Well-adapted as "sit and wait" predators; thick feathers provide 24% better insulation than seen in other birds of a similar size. Metabolism and body temperature lower significantly during nighttime resting.

Life Cycle
Laughing kookaburras are monogamous, territorial birds that nest in tree holes. Nesting season starts in September and finishes in January. Females lay one to five eggs, which are tended by a collective unit composed of parents and elder siblings. Kookaburra chicks are altricial upon hatching and are tended to by family members including fledgling kookaburras from previous clutches. The chicks are ready to fledge 33 to 39 days after they hatch and generally leave to establish their own territory around the age of 4 years. In captivity their lifespan is up to 20 years.

Behavior
Kookaburras call to announce their presence in their territory. To hear one "laugh" (it is being cued to do so by a trainer) click here

Kookaburra chicks display significant aggression from the moment they hatch; 33% of nests with two or three young had chicks killed by nestmates (siblicide). Chicks use the sharp downturned tip of their upper beak to attack nestmates; this sharp tip is gone by the time the chick fledges.

Kookaburras do not migrate.

Threats and Conservation Status
Kookaburras are not endangered but as with almost all of the animals in Australia, are protected by strict wildlife laws. The largest threat to their populations comes from habitat destruction and/or fragmentation.

=__Did you know…__= I like this video more than others because the bird actually looks like a kookaburra and the singer is wearing a cork hat (it's an Australia thing, look it up!). > **__Lyrics:__** > Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree, > merry merry king of the bush is he. > Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra, > Gay your life must be! > Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree > eating all the gumdrops he can see. > Stop, Kookaburra, stop, Kookaburra > leave some there for me. > Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, > counting all the monkeys he can see. Stop, Kookaburra, stop, Kookaburra, > that's no monkey, that's me! > >
 * The **Kookaburra song** was written in 1932 by Marion Sinclair for a contest being held by the Victorian Girl Guides. Gum tree is another name for Eucalyptus tree, and bush refers to land outside of developed areas in Australia which are often covered in scrub and bush. Cannot speak to how/why monkeys made it into the song since they are not native nor have been introduced to Australia. ** You can listen to the song ** here
 * Noisy early morning and evening choruses have earned the laughing kookaburra the nickname “bushman’s clock.”
 * The word "kookaburra" comes from the Wiradjuri Aborigine word "//guuguubarra."//
 * Australians chose the kookaburra as the mascot for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

=__Photographs__=



=__Contributors and Citations__=
 * Zoo Atlanta
 * [|National Geographic]
 * San Diego Zoo