Date:Â Â 05 February 2021
Ten captive-raised juvenile kÄkÄriki flew with Christchurch Helicopters into the Hurunui South Branch in Lake Sumner (Hoka Kura) Forest Park on Wednesday, bolstering the wild population. They will be released into the wild today after spending two days acclimatising in an aviary.
The budgie-sized birds were raised at The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust (ICWT) facility in Christchurch, where a successful breeding programme has been running since December 2003.
Department of Conservation (DOC) field staff recently found 10 nests in the Hurunui South Branch, signalling a good breeding season is underway. More are expected to be tracked down and monitored in the coming months.
An amateur documentary on the Marlborough Zoological Park shows feeding time with the lions and tigers.
How does the song go, “They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round, they all laughed when Edison recorded sound .” Well, they all laughed when Marlborough built a zoo.
But no-one was laughing that July weekend in 1983 when the rain wouldn’t let up and the flood waters kept rising. The fences of the zoo were being washed away and the small town of Renwick realised there would soon be nothing between them, the lions, the tigers and a very horny ostrich that mated “anything with two legs”.
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Darana the (Tasmanian) Devil gets into his Christmas present. In the lion enclosure, a male lion led the charge on the presents that were dotted up and down the temporary Christmas tree. The first lion jumped right up to the top of the tree to grab a box and make off with the treat inside. He was swiftly followed by another lion who pulled some meat out of one of the boxes before finding a shaded spot to munch away on the Christmas brunch.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/Stuff
A lace monitor gets into its treats, which include locusts, eggs, chicken and small dead mice.
Wednesday, 23 December, 2020 - 15:25
Orana Wildlife Park will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its Festive Themed Fun Day tomorrow. The zoo’s elves have been preparing a smorgasbord of fantastic festive presents to be delivered to all the good animals one day early.
Orana’s Head of Christmas, Rachael Mason says: we love this event, it’s a great chance to share a special time of year with our precious animals. It’s become a really popular event for staff, animals and visitors and is an especially exciting way to pass away the hours ahead of the big day! Visitors will get to see and enjoy the antics of our amazing animals and observe their different unwrapping technique! Our gorilla brothers will jostle for the ‘best’ lovingly wrapped gift (food enrichment treats), kea will skilfully destroy their presents, rhino will stomp towards their packages and use their horn to examine the goods. It will be a fun day for all .