# There is a parrot that attacks full grown sheep and eats them alive! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005 "2010-05-11T03:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/1 "2010-05-11T03:35:49Z")
[Odd but true.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea) [Video here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=552x2YFjsw0) > [@](#): > > The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a large species of parrot (family Strigopidae) found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. It is mostly olive-green and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is one of the few alpine parrots in the world. Its omnivorous diet includes carrion[2] but consists mainly of roots, leaves, berries, nectar, and insects. Now uncommon, the Kea was once killed for bounty as it preyed on livestock, especially sheep. > [@](#): > > In 1993, however, its nocturnal assaults were captured on video,[4] proving that at least some Kea will attack and feed on healthy sheep. The video confirmed what many scientists had long suspected, that the Kea uses its powerful curved beak and claws to rip through the layer of wool and eat the fat from the back of the animal. Though the bird does not directly kill the sheep, death can result from blood poisoning or accidents suffered by animals trying to escape. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/2 "2010-05-11T04:13:12Z")
I knew it! Parrots! They’re all in it. Squawking? Ha! They’re conspiring! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/3 "2010-05-11T04:22:21Z")
They’ll pick your tent to pieces too while you’re out hiking - potentially dangerous if bad weather rolls in. And I’ve heard of them picking apart the rubber gaskets that holds in car windshields. I’m sure it’s fun driving home after that. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/4 "2010-05-11T04:28:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > And I’ve heard of them picking apart the rubber gaskets that holds in car windshields. I’ve seen the signs in carparks, warning tourists. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/5 "2010-05-11T04:29:58Z")
Also while capable of [shredding rubber and plastics on cars](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMLpPoOeays&feature=related). They just love removing the rubber window seals, and if the window sans seals falls out, they’ll trash the inside very efficiently. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/6 "2010-05-11T07:30:52Z")
With God as my witness I thought sheep could fly. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/7 "2010-05-11T08:04:46Z")
Kea are really smart, too - capable of reasoning out a multistep process to get food, and using available items to help. Possibly the smartest birds, although some of the tool making/using corvids could hold that crown. Si ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/8 "2010-05-11T08:05:02Z")
Don’t get me started on the ones that keep trying to burn the house down. Hell, I never knew that after a bird threw a few seeds under a stove burner it could go up so fast. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/9 "2010-05-11T08:19:44Z")
Why doesn’t the sheep just roll over? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/10 "2010-05-11T11:18:21Z")
We’ve got Kea here in the Franklin Park Zoo, and I wrote sa thread about their weird behavior a couple of years ago. But I had no idea how weird they could be outside the cage. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/11 "2010-05-11T12:17:32Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Why doesn’t the sheep just roll over? The trouble is, sheep are very dim. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/12 "2010-05-11T12:30:50Z")
There’s a reason I keep my parrots locked in a cage when I’m not able to directly supervise them. People are sometimes surprised at what we use to lock those little birds in - problem is, they’re smart and nature saw fit to equip them with a built in wire clipper and opposable digits. Mine aren’t keas, but they can be quite destructive when they get into things. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/13 "2010-05-11T12:59:46Z")
Ah, the kea. Ran across it while picking a word for a game of fictionary. Nobody believed that that yes, the dictionary really did define it as (more or less) “A New Zealand parrot that eats the kidney fat of sheep.” Since then it’s been a go-to word for fictionary games. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/14 "2010-05-11T13:48:10Z")
As soon as I read the title of the OP, I knew it had to be New Zealand. Being bitten by a kea isn’t fun. The worst I’ve had is a nip on the shoe-covered toe, but that was enough to get an idea of how nasty it could be. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/15 "2010-05-11T15:56:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I knew it! Parrots! > > They’re all in it. Squawking? Ha! They’re conspiring! _“Rawk, he knows too much! Rawk!”_ > [@GuanoLad](#): > > As soon as I read the title of the OP, I knew it had to be New Zealand. To be fair, it could also be Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/16 "2010-05-11T15:58:54Z")
I still don’t understand why Apple created its own version that disassembles furniture. Yes. It’s called the “iKea”. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/17 "2010-05-11T16:11:05Z")
I’ve heard of keas before, but… eeep! Whose sheep was that, and why were they sitting there taping it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/18 "2010-05-11T17:00:02Z")
For God’s sake, if you have pet birds at home, don’t let them see you reading this thr ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/19 "2010-05-11T22:37:38Z")
Why is a doper called carnivorousplant concerned about a carnivorous bird? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005/20 "2010-05-12T00:48:54Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Why is a doper called carnivorousplant concerned about a carnivorous bird? 😉 Competition, plus a fear of blowing cover. The jungle must continue to appear harmless. Time to step up the Disney propaganda. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-a-parrot-that-attacks-full-grown-sheep-and-eats-them-alive/539005.md?page=2)