Its a Jungle out There!

This adventurous tuatara found life on the outside not much fun

Zealandia is an eco-sanctuary in the middle of Wellington City. There is a 9.6 kilometre predator proof fence around it acting as a barrier keeping out all mammals except mice. However, birds can leave the protection the valley provides and fly out if they so choose. As their populations increase this will happen more often as events this past month have proven. Birds, and even an extremely adventurous tuatara have decided to see what its like on the outside and have got themselves in trouble. Alfie Kaka's blog has kept us up to date with their exploits.

An adventuous tuatara was found outside Zealandia with a badly damaged tail. Evidently it had climbed over the fence and then fallen to the ground. On impact its tail partially severed. Normally if a tuatara is being attacked by a predator it will drop its tail thus sacrificing a part of itself as tasty morsel while saving its life. Injured, it gave a passing dog walker a fright as she had never seen a creature like it before. She contacted the right people though and the tuatara was taken to the zoo animal hospital where they operated to remove its tail. It is now recooperating and doing well.

The fall from the top of the fence severely damaged this tuatara's tail.

Being prepared for the operation to remove the tail.

Coming round after the tail had been carefully removed along one of the natural breaking points

A cautionary tale

The kakariki or red fronted parakeet is a smallish bird - soft green in colour with a red flash on it forehead. In early days there were so many of them their feathers were used to stuff mattresses. Nowadays they are found in three protected areas - Kapiti Island, Matiu/Somes Island and Zealandia. They fly in noisy flocks and often all you see is a flash of green. Recently one was rescued from a cat's mouth. There is talk now in Wellington about restricting cats' roaming and hunting by keeping them indoors or not replacing the pet cat once it has died, which has been our choice.

A kakariki rescued from the jaws of a cat.

I look forward to the day when these gorgeous little birds are as common as they were before the arrival of settlers.

It was rehabilitated at Wellington zoo then released into Zealandia.

The young kaka was given extra bands -an orange and a blue one, so is now known as BOY.

Kaka or North Island parrot fledglings have been very entertaining as they learn about the world. They are clumsy teenagers, falling off perches that don't quite hold their weight. They struggle to get the hang of feeders and their flying skills need a lot of practice before they are competent. One juvenile was found, stunned, in Te Aro Valley which is not too far from the Zealandia eco-sanctuary. The residents rallied round to care for him and he was taken to Wellington Zoo where he was rehabilitated then released into Zealandia. All young kaka this year are banded with a blue band only so are affectionately known as 'bunbies' short for blue unbanded. He was not keen to leave the safety of his box for the jungle but  with some tough love he made it.
To see his reluctant release go to  https://www.facebook.com/AlfieKaka.Zealandia and scroll down to the video clip.

BOY was released in Zealandia. He was rather nervous about the whole thing considering he had had a bad experience earlier on in the week.