Building A Waterslide For Our Kea

[@davechromium6414]

The real engineering challenge is to build the stuff kea-proof :D

[@AnimalMindsLab]

That is something these birds are actually often used for. If DoC or ZIP have something they want to put out in the wild, they will sometimes put it in with our birds overnight to check whether it really is kea-proof!

[@lynnleigha580]

I just found out about keas today, I'm absolutely amazed by them, I would say how much I wish I lived in New Zealand, so I could see them every day, but then I think, even though they're fun to watch, on video, I'd go absolutely insane if they was constantly "exploring" and learning, and tearing everything apart. I watched one where they was coming in through doggy doors and eating the guys lard, and then the destruction on the vehicles and the guy setting up traps to kill the stoats, that are killing them would find all the traps set off and the bait eaten, the keas was shoving sticks in, to set off the killing part and safely eating the bait.

[@andezbox]

kea. No "s" on the end of Maori words if you are referring to many or more than 1..

[@GhostOfArtBell0935]

@@andezbox In Maori, yes. In English, adding an -s to a foreign loan word in perfectly acceptable and well within the confines of our grammar.

[@andezbox]

@@GhostOfArtBell0935 you dont loan language, its something you learn at university. Something you prob not taught at uni is respect, but thats easily lost when every tweety turp with a key board is anxiously awaiting for something sarcastically witty to show how " smart" they are ..... online.

[@GhostOfArtBell0935]

@@andezbox No, words are frequently loaned between languages ( they are, in fact, even known as ' loanwords' ) and made to conform to the phonetic or grammatical rules of the new language. Hence, why Maori say 'Āporo' instead of 'apple' (in keeping with the phonotactics of their language), or why many Maori today frequently say 'yous' instead of 'you' or 'you guys,' 'you all,' etc as their language has a dual and plural second person pronoun. Funny, I do not hear you screeching about any of that being disrespectful. Native English speakers would naturally say ' keas' instead of 'kea' - and have done for many years without major complaint. The pushback is recent and is done for political/ideological reasons, not linguistic ones.

[@thomasneal9291]

@@GhostOfArtBell0935 " In Maori, yes. In English, adding an -s to a foreign loan word in perfectly acceptable and well within the confines of our grammar." So... literal cultural appropriation.

[@fredprince8256]

“What do you think would happen if we went down that Waterslide?” “Dunno! Let’s find out!”

[@agnesmariapeterdy3519]

I love it Kea❤

[@edgeplay4205]

My observation is keas love to slide but they prefer to slide on ice, not water. They slide on hut roofs with frozen dew, predawn. The huts they slide on have corrugated iron roofs with shallow rise. It may be they prefer corrugations, as this helps control direction. It may have been a mistake to bait them on the slide as they may now think this is some kind of fancy new dinner table rather than a playground feature. Perhaps a slide that mimics a hut roof would be a starter.

[@AnimalMindsLab]

That’s actually a really good point. I’ll bring the idea for a corrugated design up and maybe we could try that in the future!

[@alexkitty149]

These wonderful smart birbs 🦜💕

[@joyceangelieri1204]

Thanks for the info and the humor.Nice birds.

[@sarahok6589]

This was great!

[@elmundomagicodetuzita5851]

So cute kea

[@GedMaybury23]

Taking a page from Temple Grandin here, let's ask: How are the birds perceiving the slide? Consider this: it is shiny metal - and (I presume) is constantly reflecting the sky. Now for a bird - the sky should be 'up there' and not 'down here', thus your friends are understandably very wary of this new surface. It does not resemble anything they'd encounter in nature. To them, it may seem to be a very disturbing 'portal' into another dimension they're naturally afraid to enter.

[@k.jespersen6145]

Oh-oo-weeoo-weeoo!! Yes!! Would love to see more of this sort of thing, too! Finding things the kea consider fun seems like a great idea. And it looks like all of you had fun trying it. Oh gosh, Megatron, you wonderful bird. X) I wondered if one of them would start chewing the hose to shreds, but that was better. The mods to the slide sound like a great idea. How do kea feel about water running over their toes? My parrot likes stepping in still water that doesn't come up to the tops of his toes, and he'll play around in cool water that runs over the tops of his toes, but he refuses to step in water that will flow around but not over his toes. Is it possible that some of your kea are similarly finicky and that's why they preferred the rails over the slide? This was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing the work! Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

[@AnimalMindsLab]

I was actually quite surprised we didn’t see anyone try to chew a hole in the side of the hose. That was part of the big dilemma we had going between a long hose and self-contained, but in the end a replacement hose is only about $10, so we thought we might as well go for it and see what happens. That’s a good point about them possibly not liking just that shallow depth of water too. We might need to play around with them a little to see if we can find out more.

[@k.jespersen6145]

@@AnimalMindsLab Playing around with the kea: the burdens you bear. 😁 Best wishes on finding ways to win that warble!

[@valeriaprovotorov1625]

So sweet!

[@caroleseigworth8311]

I really enjoyed the video and getting to know the Keas. Very cool birds and good experiment. I was hoping to see them slide. Maybe next time.

[@AnimalMindsLab]

We have actually made a follow up video since this was posted. They do now slide a little more, but the whole thing looks a little more interesting to them as a jungle gym to climb and play all over rather than a slide.

[@javiernava4855]

Now need to try a mini rollercoaster they can land on a tbar set up to roll down a rail. Or a zipline

[@maxsonthonax1020]

I hope you made those alterations.

[@funkyjava]

kinda late to the game here but I would think the slide should be wider. Maybe even up to one meter wide. If they like to roll down surfaces, they would need enough room to be comfortable that they wouldn't fall off.

[@chrish3175]

I think you should try a plastic slide instead of metal

[@bonnie_may]

Where are you based? Auckland or south island?

[@l...]

Thank you for 50FPS

[@eschwarz1003]

I dont understand why the slide was going into water; why not have it onto land?

[@georgewatkins6086]

Perhaps sliding is somethng keas discover when they fly up and mistime a landing on a car or house roof or something like that and realise it's fun. Having a nice flat ramp at the top that they can climb up to probably isn't going to result in the outcome you are after. And what's the history with these birds, were they captured in the wild or raised in captivity? Just my $0.02...

[@Cpt.PickHard]

Tough crowd, seems like its not easy to make them laugh

[@coffeecaim2527]

Cute bord

[@MystikalDawn]

are you married? what does your significant other think of all the sawdust in the kitchen? haha

[@mehere8038]

too steep imo, needed something between flat & super steep

[@marcstein2510]

Dude you really need to shave your hair!

[@alisonstratton2714]

Rude