references
Kea in North American Zoos
Jessica Meehan – AZA Kea Red Program Leader, Bird Keeper, Denver Zoo
I have been the population manager, or Program Leader, for kea in North American zoos since late 2008 when it was decided to begin a studbook and formal management of this small population. I’m also a zookeeper who works with a pair of kea every day. This population has been my joy and struggle through the past 6 years, from the compiling and publishing of the first studbook (a database that records all kea that have been held in our zoos and their parentage), through the analysis of the population which showed some serious concerns in demographic and genetic history, and on to the current struggle to breed birds successfully so that we can continue to exhibit this amazing species in North American zoos. Kea are the perfect parrots for many northern zoos in the USA and Canada. They can be exhibited outdoors all year and their playful antics and curious personalities win the hearts of our guests. They provide a wonderful opportunity to share an important conservation story with our visitors, highlighting the wide variety of dangers wild kea face: human-wildlife conflict, environmental lead, introduced predator species, etc. When offered the opportunity to meet some kea in person, as occurs at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens’ unique kea encounter, guests don’t hesitate to hand the birds a couple of dollars that are deposited in a box and then donated directly to their conservation in the wild through KCT. Kea also win the hearts of their zookeepers, and the kea keepers that I meet are amazingly passionate about the birds in their care. They never fail to offer us challenges in providing them with unique and varied enrichment activities, training opportunities, and often even just in keeping their exhibits intact!
As of May 2014 there were 43 kea in 12 North American zoos. Our goal is to keep this small population of kea sustainable for the next 100 years or more, so that we can continue to showcase this amazing bird. There are many challenges associated with this, the biggest of which has been getting our birds to breed successfully. A number of new pairs were formed since we began managing the population, and several are showing good pair-bonding, nesting, and egglaying behaviors. Getting chicks to hatch and survive has been a challenge, however. Problems range from infertility, incubation problems and dead-in-shell eggs, to egg breakage. But this year has been a banner year for kea due to the unprecedented breeding
success of three pairs from the kea flock at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, for a total of 6 chicks as of May. Several other zoos including Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts and Denver Zoo in Denver, Colorado are showing promise with fertile eggs laid this year. We are really excited about kea here in North America. There are many zoos which are interested in joining us in holding this amazing species and sharing their stories with our guests. There are still many struggles ahead of us, with major concerns about the small number of founders and a bottleneck in genetics, but hopefully with time and cooperation from other regions of the world we may be able to address these challenges as well.
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Photos: Denver Zoo