I tookour daughter, MilliCal, to the zoo last weekend. Much interesting stuff there, the most interesting of which was a New Zealand parrot, the Kea ( Kea - Wikipedia ). When it saw us, it leapt down from its perch onto the ground, twisted its head around so that it was looking up at the sky, then hopped backwards rapidly four or five times, emitting a squawk with each bounce.
We mentioned this to a zookeeper when we found one.
“Oh, yeah, that’s Jean-Luc, doing his happy dance.” He looked at me. Evidently I was wearing something that loudly proclaimed “Trekkie Geek!”, because he immediately went on, “There’s a female in the cage named Beverly. In the next cage is another one named Kirk.”
Those keas are pretty big. When I was in NZ, one took a liking to my rental car while I’d stopped to take photos. It started stripping the rubber seals from round the doors with its big razor-sharp beak. I was happily watching this for several minutes before it occurred to me that maybe I should try to stop it
It was Franklin Park Zoo on Jamaica Plain. We wanted to see the Gorilla exhibit, now that they’ve fixed it up so the gorillas can’t get out.*
that’s not a joke. A couple of years ago on gorilla did get out, and they found him at the bus stop. Fortunately, he couldn’t figure out the Charlie Card machines, either.
Heh. That’s funny. I remember seeing that on the news. I didn’t know the Zoo was open in the winter. But I guess now that I think about it, why wouldn’t it be, right? The animals are gonna be there no matter what the weather is like, I suppose. It’s not like the giraffes winter in Miami. Do they?
We took Cinderella and BamBam there last summer, but I don’t specifically remember the keas. I do remember thinking it was a good idea to cut through Roxbury and Dorchester to get back home (to Marblehead via Boston). We got caught in heavy traffic all the way up Blue Hill Avenue (it might have been Washington St. or even Columbia Ave - I looked at a map, but honestly can’t remember). Anyways, SmithWife was less than pleased that we were taking a driving tour of Greater Boston’s most dangerous neighborhoods with the kids. For 90 minutes. In stop and go city traffic. :smack:
Actually, you’re not far off. Although I’m amazed at the range of temperature tolerance of many of the animals there, the giraffes themselves 9which you mention) don’t like the cold, and weren’t out that day. They winter, not in Miami, but in a barn in the back.
we go through the Jamaicaway and Arborway. Not dangerous, there aren’t all that many lights, and I’ve never been stuck in traffic there. Might be out of your way, though.
We went that way to get there, but I (of course) got the bright idea that we could take a shortcut. I should forfeit my SDMB Subscription for that one. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Yep - thats the Kea. Smart birds - they will solve complex problems to get at food and have a reputation for disassembling cars. In fact, a really great insurance ad in NZ just involved parking a car in a remote car park, and letting the keas at it. Trashed.
