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There are some parrots
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that just don't act like parrots.
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The keas in New Zealand just
love the snow and the cold
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and the harsh climate of the mountains.
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To survive here, they've developed
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an unusual intelligence and resourcefulness.
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These mountain parrots.
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But for some time now, things are looking different
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in the snow.
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And that is offering up a host of new possibilities
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for their intellectual talents.
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They test some things
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and explore others.
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They're also full of mischievous curiosity
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and they make friends.
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But their world is changing.
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New challenges, new dangers.
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Will they manage to adapt?
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From the beginning the birds
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have dominated New Zealand.
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And that, throughout the
country, there are no mammals.
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For every environment, the matching bird species.
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Down below on the forest floor,
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wingless kiwis poke around.
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Further up, climbing among the trees, are kakas,
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the local inhabitants of the forest.
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Along the coast there are seagulls,
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as there are everywhere.
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But here their beaks look
like they've had a makeover.
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In the tufts of the grasslands,
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the indigenous and rare takahe birds.
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They target stem after stem with their beak
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to get to the grass seed.
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And finally, the sparse rocky regions.
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This is the domain of the keas.
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Dried out bark, so dry that one
has to have a quick rinse.
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Foraging for little worms on thawed out meadows,
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luxurious it is not.
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Burrowing for grass seeds
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or lapping up pollen from the flowers.
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One must be resourceful and innovative
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to survive on top of these barren mountains.
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And one is not only talking about survival.
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Where to find a place to
breed, and to raise a family?
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There are only a few that have seen a young kea
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in the wilderness.
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Corey Mosen is one of them.
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He's underway on business, as ranger
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and as conservationist.
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From September until April Corey tracks the keas'
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breeding burrows.
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In the deepest wilderness, far away from humans.
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He's attempting to calculate a census
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of the new offspring.
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How many chicks are there?
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It's only when he's fully exhaled
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that he can fit through the narrow opening.
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The den lies some meters under the surface,
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but then Corey is in luck.
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His labors are rewarded.
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Two chicks that are clearly warm and well-fed.
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The young chicks remain underground
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for an entire three months,
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under the watchful eye of their parent.
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Only then are they big enough and prepared
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for the harsh world outside.
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Corey would love to have the chance
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to see how they eventually leave the nest,
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never to return.
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Undoubtedly, with a little more ease than himself.
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There is an abundance of caves in New Zealand.
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Large amounts of water wash away the limestone,
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forming paths and grottos,
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grottos that one could only dream of.
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A curtain of glowing pearls.
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And this is how they're formed.
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Syrupy drops eked out by the
larvae of a fungus gnat.
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A deadly curtain for insects.
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The larvae attract their prey with a light
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that's produced chemically in their body.
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And they that fly too close to the light
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are trapped in the adhesive mesh.
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The larvae silently slide
along their pre-laid track
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towards their prey.
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There is no escape for the moth.
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With every flap of their wings,
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they become increasingly ensnared.
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Striving for the light means certain death
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in this eerie cave world.
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And thereafter, as seen from a distance,
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the brutal reality dissipates.
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The ravenous larvae transforms into a glowing star
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on the canopy of the cave.
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When Corey thinks about caves,
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he thinks about kea caves.
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Every one is recorded in a book,
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pedantically exact.
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GPS data, age, condition of the chicks, and so on.
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In a roots hollow, he recently discovered
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three young keas and ringed them.
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By now they should be old enough to leave the nest.
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Are they still there?
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Or have they already flown the nest?
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Tentatively, he moves closer.
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At the same time, he looks for a suitable place
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to install a camera
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and to position a small light.
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Then, he reverses himself outside again.
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Just three months old, but
already the size of an adult.
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And as children are, they have to explore
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everything.
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One can see that they're young
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because of the yellow circles around their eyes.
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Also, the base of their beak is a youthful yellow.
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But eventually, it's quite enough of cave life.
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Even mum thinks so.
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And her call falls upon open ears.
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Well, at last.
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The first steps in an exciting world of light.
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There are hard stones
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and soft bark to crumble,
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the first practice with material substances.
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Mum always has an eye on the kids.
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She mollycoddles them and nibbles them.
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But not all like to be mothered quite so much.
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Young keas are free to do everything.
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The parents are extremely generous,
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and remain relaxed whenever they're dismissed.
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They've got, if one could say, a soft heart,
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as if they know how hard the
oncoming winter will be
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for the young ones.
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Only half will survive it.
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The berries could be tasty.
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One just has to try, even
if they are a bit high up.
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There's just so much to try out.
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Like a microphone with a windshield, for example.
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And the sound recorder seems
to be quite interesting too.
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With his bright colors, quite
remarkable these bipeds.
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And they'll have to examine this little camera,
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only to find that it's not standing solidly.
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The children are busy,
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a chance for a little excursion to the road.
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There's even a little food to be had.
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But tourists aren't really so exciting.
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The take hundreds of pictures with them,
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but they forget something intriguing behind.
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A soft and cuddly toy.
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No one can resist.
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Regardless if young or old,
keas remain full of play
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their entire lifetime.
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A toy might be a bit of fun,
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but playing together is the best.
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Keas find their way in the world through playing.
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But for all, there remains one question.
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Why do they live in the mountains?
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Why not further down in the green forests?
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There, there'd be soft cushions of moss,
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instead of hardened stone.
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There's clear water where
one could even take a bath.
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Luxurious greenery and plentiful fruit.
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But the keas have been refused such a paradise.
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Others were simply there first, the forest parrots,
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the kakas.
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They are the masters of climbing.
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Their powerful beak is perfect
for harvesting the fruit.
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They love climbing the labyrinth of the branches
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and only use their wings when necessary.
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In short, the kakas were
made for life in the forest.
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Here they are showered with everything they need.
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To rid themselves of such competition,
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the keas remain in the cold mountainous regions.
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The tough luck of the draw it's true,
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but it was the impetus for
their unusual intelligence
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and creativity.
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Kakas in comparison, were never forced
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to develop such mental faculties.
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The forest offers them all they could wish for.
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In the spring, the trees even
offer up sweet honey for them.
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The white bloom that covers the trunks of the trees
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is made up of millions of fine strands,
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each decorated at the end with
a little droplet of sugar.
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It's honeydew.
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Mealybugs beneath the bark,
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only a couple of millimeters in size,
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but it is they that send it
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through hairline ducts a
centimeter long, to the outside.
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The forest produces confectionery
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and there is no shortage of takers.
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The bellbird nibbles drop after drop,
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while the kaka licks with a flattened tongue.
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The sugared juice is more than a snack.
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He collects it for others.
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Hopping and clambering, he makes his way
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back to his tree hollow.
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Here, the furry recipients are waiting.
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They've just hatched.
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The kaka's chicks need the sweet dew
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as a form of energy
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and they come from a world
where the forest provides it
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by the mealybugs.
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Matched like a hand to a glove,
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kakas are the children of the forest.
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Naturally, they need other forms of nutrition
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and there is a new, somewhat curious
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alternative that presents itself
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in a clearing in the middle of the forest.
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A treadle feeder.
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One steps on the front and it opens,
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revealing a supply of nuts.
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All by itself.
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One doesn't need to think about it too much.
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You just have to be heavy enough.
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The feeding machine is designed
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to test the intelligence of the kakas.
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Are they really less capable
than the keas in the mountains?
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The biologist Julia Loepelt
wants to put it to the test,
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and changes it a little bit.
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The same box, but this time without a pedal.
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It'll be filled with tempting cashew nuts.
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Forest parrots are much shyer and more withdrawn
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than the keas, and need a further invitation.
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Come here.
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Come on.
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Come on.
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00:18:25,538 --> 00:18:29,089
But without the pedal, it's a bit tricky.
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The lid simply closes again.
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Without a clue.
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There has to be something to do about it.
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But gravity is against the birds.
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There's only one watching on, as if he knew better.
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And it's true.
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Now he makes his move.
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Lift it from the side and flap it over.
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That's how you do it!
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One of them has set the example.
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Will the others follow it?
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00:19:39,884 --> 00:19:42,942
Forest parrots, it seems, are not the brightest
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of contestants.
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But why should they be?
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In the forest, the food just
seems to fall into their beaks.
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Kaka and kea.
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Each has the ability that it needs.
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So far, so good.
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However the great test of truth remains to be seen.
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It was 1,000 years ago that the first people
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ventured onto New Zealand.
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Soon, they were hunting birds
and clearing the forest.
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500 years later, Europeans
are continuing the tradition
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with other resources.
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00:20:26,002 --> 00:20:29,733
They're converting it into the planet of the birds.
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For the keas in the mountains,
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that is of little danger at first.
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Everything that's new is worthy of a visit.
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It's got its own particular appeal.
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Variety and change are their calling cards.
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They're looking for conversation.
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There's a walkie-talkie, just the thing.
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However, soon they discover
that all this tree cutting
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opens up some extra creature comforts.
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On the inside of the decaying
trunks there are fat larvae,
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high in protein.
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Keas have agile minds.
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They utilize things for their own means,
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sometimes not as they were originally intended.
265
00:21:42,761 --> 00:21:45,580
The packing for this sandwich is empty.
266
00:21:45,581 --> 00:21:48,572
It seems that today is not a good one.
267
00:21:57,821 --> 00:22:00,952
At least, a little drink of the bottle.
268
00:22:07,601 --> 00:22:09,871
He's figured out the screw cap.
269
00:22:17,902 --> 00:22:21,601
But unfortunately, the bottle is empty.
270
00:22:22,831 --> 00:22:26,842
Even without sunshine, an
umbrella can still be useful.
271
00:22:33,711 --> 00:22:35,930
And when it gets to be too wet,
272
00:22:35,931 --> 00:22:38,161
a change of location is needed.
273
00:22:40,031 --> 00:22:43,710
On the other side of the
mountain the weather is better.
274
00:22:43,711 --> 00:22:45,462
Perfect weather for flying.
275
00:22:48,971 --> 00:22:53,640
For the professionals, and the super-professionals.
276
00:23:01,110 --> 00:23:03,400
The interest is mutual.
277
00:23:14,870 --> 00:23:16,800
Experts together.
278
00:23:16,830 --> 00:23:18,769
Time to take a closer look.
279
00:23:22,859 --> 00:23:25,789
But first, back to the spectators' area.
280
00:23:29,779 --> 00:23:32,389
It goes with a long run up.
281
00:23:35,279 --> 00:23:37,370
Or, from standing.
282
00:23:43,779 --> 00:23:47,349
But each savors the carrying wind.
283
00:23:54,082 --> 00:23:57,239
Keas like to get close to the paragliders,
284
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,519
out of pure curiosity to see what else
285
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,971
is sharing their air space.
286
00:24:02,421 --> 00:24:04,440
Do they just want to join in?
287
00:24:04,441 --> 00:24:06,340
Perhaps they simply have as much fun
288
00:24:06,341 --> 00:24:09,651
watching us as we do them.
289
00:24:20,571 --> 00:24:23,320
But it's not such a big challenge for them.
290
00:24:23,351 --> 00:24:25,541
That is somewhere else.
291
00:24:44,571 --> 00:24:46,970
At the Homer Pass, the road disappears
292
00:24:46,971 --> 00:24:48,979
under the colossal massive.
293
00:24:49,688 --> 00:24:52,687
Flying over the top is not a problem for keas,
294
00:24:52,688 --> 00:24:55,158
but does it have to be so?
295
00:25:01,909 --> 00:25:05,418
Where the cars go, keas can go too.
296
00:25:09,628 --> 00:25:10,927
Just right.
297
00:25:10,928 --> 00:25:12,578
It's green.
298
00:25:14,189 --> 00:25:17,458
That camper van is rather convenient.
299
00:25:33,608 --> 00:25:36,058
A true test of courage.
300
00:25:45,868 --> 00:25:47,399
Head down.
301
00:25:49,889 --> 00:25:53,178
Until one gets to the other side.
302
00:25:54,968 --> 00:25:57,208
That takes a lot of hootspa.
303
00:25:57,209 --> 00:26:00,267
Keas simply make the best out of everything.
304
00:26:00,268 --> 00:26:02,538
What could possibly happen?
305
00:26:06,009 --> 00:26:09,447
But menace walks with a silent tread,
306
00:26:09,448 --> 00:26:11,899
everywhere in the wilderness.
307
00:26:15,627 --> 00:26:18,066
The birds' enemies like cats and dogs
308
00:26:18,067 --> 00:26:20,657
have been brought by the humans.
309
00:26:22,588 --> 00:26:24,737
Rats and mice.
310
00:26:29,088 --> 00:26:31,866
Even the possum, which was
introduced from Australia
311
00:26:31,867 --> 00:26:33,786
for its soft fur.
312
00:26:33,787 --> 00:26:36,804
It finds the eggs and the chicks.
313
00:26:39,825 --> 00:26:43,004
And worst of all, the marten.
314
00:26:43,005 --> 00:26:45,596
It kills what it can.
315
00:26:50,985 --> 00:26:53,644
Increasingly, Corey comes across the trails
316
00:26:53,645 --> 00:26:57,656
of these migrants, and it's causing him concern.
317
00:26:59,965 --> 00:27:02,356
The nest is destroyed,
318
00:27:02,646 --> 00:27:05,535
the eggs cold and dead.
319
00:27:12,285 --> 00:27:16,715
The tuatara could also be
part of the list of suspects.
320
00:27:17,047 --> 00:27:19,805
He, with peaks on his back,
321
00:27:19,806 --> 00:27:22,735
derives his name from the Maoris.
322
00:27:23,545 --> 00:27:27,224
The indigenous tuatara existed in prehistoric times
323
00:27:27,225 --> 00:27:28,805
with the dinosaurs,
324
00:27:28,806 --> 00:27:31,996
and can only be found in New Zealand.
325
00:27:33,766 --> 00:27:36,365
They can live to be 100 years old,
326
00:27:36,366 --> 00:27:39,626
and aside from insects, they eat the keas' eggs
327
00:27:39,627 --> 00:27:41,316
and the chicks.
328
00:27:47,986 --> 00:27:51,305
But Corey doesn't believe it for one minute,
329
00:27:51,306 --> 00:27:53,596
and he's proved right.
330
00:27:56,686 --> 00:27:58,665
He's set up ample surveillance cameras
331
00:27:58,666 --> 00:28:00,185
throughout the forest.
332
00:28:00,186 --> 00:28:02,716
They're fitted with movement sensors.
333
00:28:05,346 --> 00:28:08,857
He does on the spot checks regardless of the rain
334
00:28:08,858 --> 00:28:12,086
to see if the video traps have picked up anything.
335
00:28:17,167 --> 00:28:19,186
It is as he feared.
336
00:28:19,737 --> 00:28:22,026
Martens are in the territory.
337
00:28:27,518 --> 00:28:30,967
They track down the nests and help themselves.
338
00:28:30,978 --> 00:28:35,066
It's all too easy for them as ground-based thieves.
339
00:28:36,758 --> 00:28:40,667
The keas are powerless against the imported danger.
340
00:28:40,737 --> 00:28:42,756
Their way of breeding is tried and tested
341
00:28:42,757 --> 00:28:45,516
over millions of years and is deeply embedded
342
00:28:45,517 --> 00:28:47,466
in their genes.
343
00:28:47,497 --> 00:28:49,807
What is to be done?
344
00:28:53,789 --> 00:28:55,889
Resources against martens,
345
00:28:55,890 --> 00:28:58,999
that is the job of Martin Jared.
346
00:29:03,250 --> 00:29:06,938
Traps for the martens are set up all over the area,
347
00:29:06,939 --> 00:29:09,650
even in the remote mountain regions.
348
00:29:09,779 --> 00:29:12,309
It's Martin's job to monitor them.
349
00:29:15,189 --> 00:29:18,009
The headquarters is a tin shack
350
00:29:18,010 --> 00:29:20,359
in the Murchison Mountains.
351
00:29:20,689 --> 00:29:24,488
He lights the oven and drinks a cup of coffee.
352
00:29:24,489 --> 00:29:27,759
Unfortunately, the radio set is dead.
353
00:29:28,830 --> 00:29:31,188
With care and a pair of pliers,
354
00:29:31,189 --> 00:29:33,671
Martin gets it up and running again.
355
00:29:37,289 --> 00:29:40,709
Contact to the base station is reestablished.
356
00:29:40,710 --> 00:29:43,969
The relief to be in contact again is clear.
357
00:29:50,149 --> 00:29:51,882
And there it is.
358
00:29:51,991 --> 00:29:54,771
It's as if the kea has sensed that something's
359
00:29:54,772 --> 00:29:56,622
going on here.
360
00:30:01,362 --> 00:30:04,951
And Martin lets it be known he's there as well.
361
00:30:05,182 --> 00:30:08,041
He raps out his presence on the sauce spoon.
362
00:30:16,301 --> 00:30:19,611
A new sound, and a phony artist.
363
00:30:19,612 --> 00:30:22,810
That's something that no kea can resist.
364
00:30:22,811 --> 00:30:25,161
It's much too curious.
365
00:30:28,701 --> 00:30:30,841
One simply wants to know what's going on
366
00:30:30,842 --> 00:30:32,752
in one's patch.
367
00:30:38,862 --> 00:30:40,920
Time to give a bit of support to this
368
00:30:40,921 --> 00:30:43,291
sympathetic intellectual.
369
00:30:46,841 --> 00:30:50,572
Martin is out on a monitoring tour of the traps.
370
00:30:53,562 --> 00:30:56,740
He loves these fairytale-like mountains
371
00:30:56,741 --> 00:30:59,391
and its feathered inhabitants.
372
00:31:02,871 --> 00:31:04,710
The traps are wooden boxes
373
00:31:04,711 --> 00:31:08,090
with a chicken egg as bait
and a deadly springed bar,
374
00:31:08,091 --> 00:31:10,241
similar to a mousetrap.
375
00:31:13,620 --> 00:31:16,619
This one has managed to trap a rat,
376
00:31:16,620 --> 00:31:18,479
also an enemy of the kea
377
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,589
and here as a consequence of humans.
378
00:31:22,340 --> 00:31:26,170
In fact, it's even managed to
kill two at the same time.
379
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,858
Martin has cleaned the trap and put a new egg in.
380
00:31:30,859 --> 00:31:34,310
At the next trap, he discovers a surprise.
381
00:31:36,968 --> 00:31:41,656
The trap has been sprung,
but there's nothing inside.
382
00:31:42,006 --> 00:31:45,136
Simply a broken eggshell and twigs.
383
00:31:45,326 --> 00:31:47,996
How has that happened?
384
00:31:49,946 --> 00:31:52,945
Did a kea, possibly with a stick?
385
00:31:52,946 --> 00:31:54,165
Highly unlikely.
386
00:31:54,166 --> 00:31:57,430
Something like that has never been seen before.
387
00:31:59,941 --> 00:32:02,541
Martin also sets up surveillance cameras,
388
00:32:02,542 --> 00:32:06,471
because there are a number of
similarly sabotaged traps.
389
00:32:10,761 --> 00:32:14,031
Who could this mysterious saboteur be?
390
00:32:14,142 --> 00:32:16,851
And what exactly happens?
391
00:32:16,941 --> 00:32:19,909
The trap awaits the solution.
392
00:32:22,359 --> 00:32:26,049
Further down in the forests,
there are other concerns.
393
00:32:28,959 --> 00:32:32,718
The clearing action is obviously
distressing the kakas.
394
00:32:32,719 --> 00:32:36,912
Forest parrots without a forest,
is simply unacceptable.
395
00:32:41,180 --> 00:32:45,868
Their wild paradise, cleaned and neatly pilled up.
396
00:32:46,077 --> 00:32:50,068
Stacked cubic meters for a depleted living space.
397
00:32:51,799 --> 00:32:53,816
Even where the forest is healthy,
398
00:32:53,817 --> 00:32:56,908
there remains the threat to be gobbled up.
399
00:32:57,197 --> 00:32:59,817
Possums are also quite partial to leaves,
400
00:32:59,818 --> 00:33:02,803
and 30 million possums are quite capable
401
00:33:02,804 --> 00:33:05,234
of stripping an enormous area.
402
00:33:06,485 --> 00:33:08,484
In addition comes this.
403
00:33:10,545 --> 00:33:13,484
Without being noticed, wasps have reached land
404
00:33:13,485 --> 00:33:15,773
via the military planes.
405
00:33:15,774 --> 00:33:18,924
Now they are reproducing rapidly.
406
00:33:19,095 --> 00:33:22,614
And now it is they who are milking the mealybugs'
407
00:33:22,615 --> 00:33:24,726
sweet secretions.
408
00:33:26,274 --> 00:33:30,186
Millions of them swarm to
the seas of sugar droplets.
409
00:33:30,274 --> 00:33:33,935
Their menacing buzzing dominates the forest.
410
00:33:38,005 --> 00:33:40,363
They are so greedy and agressive
411
00:33:40,364 --> 00:33:42,955
that there is nothing left for others.
412
00:33:45,545 --> 00:33:48,163
No more honeydew for the kakas,
413
00:33:48,164 --> 00:33:51,764
less forest, and introduced predators.
414
00:33:52,253 --> 00:33:55,643
They've lost out three times at the same time.
415
00:33:57,454 --> 00:34:01,223
As a first emergency measure, sugar dispensers.
416
00:34:01,533 --> 00:34:03,532
They quickly learn how to use them
417
00:34:03,533 --> 00:34:06,743
and the syrupy liquid seems to be in demand.
418
00:34:11,693 --> 00:34:14,704
However, it's not a permanent solution.
419
00:34:14,873 --> 00:34:18,023
The future looks bleak for the kakas.
420
00:34:20,213 --> 00:34:21,772
They miss the forests that they knew
421
00:34:21,773 --> 00:34:23,803
before the humans came.
422
00:34:29,053 --> 00:34:33,103
And this is exactly what a
new initiative is all about.
423
00:34:33,613 --> 00:34:37,052
The plane is flying to a protected jungle area,
424
00:34:37,053 --> 00:34:40,683
free from imported animals, or should be.
425
00:34:45,955 --> 00:34:48,854
The biologist Iris Rockimer, has the job
426
00:34:48,855 --> 00:34:51,154
to monitor the project.
427
00:34:51,155 --> 00:34:54,491
She can only get to it from the water.
428
00:34:54,641 --> 00:34:57,771
Every other way is blocked.
429
00:35:00,021 --> 00:35:03,672
By a meter high, formidable fence.
430
00:35:04,381 --> 00:35:05,880
Nothing gets past.
431
00:35:05,881 --> 00:35:09,231
No possums, no martens, no rats.
432
00:35:10,901 --> 00:35:15,050
And behind the fence, New Zealand as it once was,
433
00:35:15,051 --> 00:35:17,421
pure wilderness.
434
00:35:22,051 --> 00:35:23,590
But how can she check that someone
435
00:35:23,591 --> 00:35:26,161
hasn't perhaps slipped by?
436
00:35:29,891 --> 00:35:32,712
Iris uses an extremely simple,
437
00:35:32,713 --> 00:35:35,083
but tried and tested method.
438
00:35:37,313 --> 00:35:41,072
A finger of peanut butter on a black color field,
439
00:35:41,073 --> 00:35:43,944
and then into the tube casing.
440
00:35:45,654 --> 00:35:48,252
All the rest happens on its own,
441
00:35:48,253 --> 00:35:50,873
without electronic devices.
442
00:35:50,874 --> 00:35:53,012
Whatever approaches the peanut butter
443
00:35:53,013 --> 00:35:56,552
gets blackened paws and thus leaves a trail,
444
00:35:56,553 --> 00:35:58,543
simple as that.
445
00:36:00,093 --> 00:36:03,452
This tube for example, she
prepared on her last visit
446
00:36:03,453 --> 00:36:05,783
and someone was in there.
447
00:36:08,814 --> 00:36:13,423
The tracks of a weta, a long-horned grasshopper.
448
00:36:13,552 --> 00:36:16,272
As with so many species in New Zealand,
449
00:36:16,273 --> 00:36:19,153
it originates from ancient times.
450
00:36:19,164 --> 00:36:21,312
It's one of the largest insects ever,
451
00:36:21,313 --> 00:36:24,063
measuring nearly 10 centimeters long.
452
00:36:28,412 --> 00:36:32,523
A perfectly ideal world behind the fence.
453
00:36:35,914 --> 00:36:38,692
The birds are moving here, where they are safe
454
00:36:38,693 --> 00:36:40,523
from predators.
455
00:36:43,773 --> 00:36:46,832
Native cormorants come here to breed.
456
00:36:46,833 --> 00:36:48,832
When the young are big enough to fly,
457
00:36:48,833 --> 00:36:50,903
they move on again.
458
00:36:53,134 --> 00:36:57,233
A small patch of New Zealand
as if the last 1,000 years
459
00:36:57,234 --> 00:36:59,563
had never existed.
460
00:37:00,435 --> 00:37:03,152
The forest parrots exercise on the branches
461
00:37:03,153 --> 00:37:05,773
and lap up the pollen and the nectar
462
00:37:05,774 --> 00:37:08,103
as they did in the past.
463
00:37:08,993 --> 00:37:11,112
There are no enemies, no wasps,
464
00:37:11,113 --> 00:37:13,882
and absolutely no lumberjacks.
465
00:37:14,114 --> 00:37:17,424
A small oasis of recompense.
466
00:37:21,233 --> 00:37:24,303
Back to the mountains and Martin and his traps.
467
00:37:27,851 --> 00:37:30,850
Fighting kea-killers with chicken eggs.
468
00:37:30,851 --> 00:37:34,581
It sounds a bit primitive, but it seems to work.
469
00:37:41,271 --> 00:37:43,670
One marten less.
470
00:37:43,671 --> 00:37:46,988
It's a lovely looking animal,
but without such measures,
471
00:37:46,989 --> 00:37:50,128
the keas in the long run have no chance,
472
00:37:50,129 --> 00:37:54,299
despite their intelligence and
their aptitude for learning.
473
00:37:56,487 --> 00:37:59,517
And then another trap's sabotaged.
474
00:38:00,047 --> 00:38:04,097
Again the trap's been sprung, but nothing inside.
475
00:38:06,227 --> 00:38:09,486
However, this trap was under surveillance.
476
00:38:09,487 --> 00:38:11,926
And when Martin returns to his shack,
477
00:38:11,927 --> 00:38:14,557
he sits straight down to have a look.
478
00:38:14,907 --> 00:38:17,445
Who is the culprit?
479
00:38:22,925 --> 00:38:25,044
No question about it.
480
00:38:25,045 --> 00:38:26,484
It's a kea.
481
00:38:26,485 --> 00:38:29,664
An old and experienced kea,
482
00:38:29,665 --> 00:38:32,495
who sets about his business.
483
00:38:33,525 --> 00:38:35,344
Unbelievable.
484
00:38:35,345 --> 00:38:37,583
Now he's trying to cut down a twig
485
00:38:37,584 --> 00:38:40,473
to the right size with his beak.
486
00:38:41,302 --> 00:38:44,272
Determined and persistent.
487
00:38:46,183 --> 00:38:48,612
Until it works.
488
00:38:50,902 --> 00:38:53,781
Then, he pushes the twig into the small entrance
489
00:38:53,782 --> 00:38:55,512
of the trap.
490
00:38:58,682 --> 00:39:02,201
Martin is amazed at his persistence.
491
00:39:02,202 --> 00:39:05,732
He fumbles and pokes tirelessly.
492
00:39:08,223 --> 00:39:10,512
Until...
493
00:39:10,923 --> 00:39:13,292
He triggers it off.
494
00:39:15,842 --> 00:39:17,641
And thus, with a bit of luck
495
00:39:17,642 --> 00:39:20,722
he manages to get a little egg white,
496
00:39:20,723 --> 00:39:23,781
the first proof that wild keas have the ability
497
00:39:23,782 --> 00:39:26,692
to create tools and to use them.
498
00:39:28,243 --> 00:39:31,162
Even if this amazing feat of intelligence
499
00:39:31,163 --> 00:39:33,894
is not very clever for the long-term.
500
00:39:37,862 --> 00:39:40,621
For the younger keas such a virtuoso performance
501
00:39:40,622 --> 00:39:43,112
might be a bit too much.
502
00:39:43,122 --> 00:39:46,192
Like children, they still have a lot to learn.
503
00:39:46,482 --> 00:39:48,782
However, the impetus for such acts
504
00:39:48,783 --> 00:39:51,692
is their near-insatiable curiosity.
505
00:39:54,121 --> 00:39:56,580
A trap for martens is naturally
506
00:39:56,581 --> 00:39:59,292
something to pique their interest.
507
00:40:03,021 --> 00:40:05,371
Somehow fascinating.
508
00:40:05,781 --> 00:40:08,252
What could one do with that?
509
00:40:11,942 --> 00:40:14,892
And what about this metal grate?
510
00:40:18,941 --> 00:40:22,071
It looks like something is going through its head.
511
00:40:26,761 --> 00:40:28,680
Somehow the trick with the stick
512
00:40:28,681 --> 00:40:31,392
seems to be in the blood.
513
00:40:34,661 --> 00:40:36,632
But only as a game.
514
00:40:37,021 --> 00:40:40,411
They chew off the bark and throw it all around.
515
00:40:44,422 --> 00:40:46,940
But such games could develop into the same
516
00:40:46,941 --> 00:40:49,712
specific application as a tool.
517
00:40:54,362 --> 00:40:58,201
The kea is one of the most intelligent birds,
518
00:40:58,202 --> 00:41:01,440
but of course who knew that better than Corey?
519
00:41:01,441 --> 00:41:04,680
Persisting in building their
breeding hollows underground,
520
00:41:04,681 --> 00:41:08,671
they're simply following an
instinct from time immemorial.
521
00:41:12,801 --> 00:41:16,431
But in Corey's opinion, even that could change.
522
00:41:18,662 --> 00:41:22,121
He believes that he's discovered a sensation,
523
00:41:22,122 --> 00:41:26,652
a kea mother that decided instead
to breed in a tree hollow.
524
00:41:26,801 --> 00:41:28,801
Of that, he's sure.
525
00:41:32,251 --> 00:41:35,481
She incited her new offspring on their first outing
526
00:41:35,482 --> 00:41:38,120
to flap clumsily from one branch to the next
527
00:41:38,121 --> 00:41:40,812
instead of walking on the ground.
528
00:41:48,721 --> 00:41:51,700
Two months previously, Corey made a video
529
00:41:51,701 --> 00:41:54,312
of this unusual nursery.
530
00:41:59,060 --> 00:42:02,030
He can hardly believe it himself.
531
00:42:02,061 --> 00:42:04,840
Such a quantum leap from a nest underground
532
00:42:04,841 --> 00:42:07,392
to a much safer tree hollow.
533
00:42:10,541 --> 00:42:11,780
Who knows?
534
00:42:11,781 --> 00:42:14,059
Perhaps these highly intelligent keas
535
00:42:14,060 --> 00:42:17,740
are just about to write a
piece of evolutionary history
536
00:42:17,741 --> 00:42:21,130
and defy their ancestral breeding habits.
537
00:42:23,991 --> 00:42:27,511
One could believe them quite capable of it.
538
00:42:32,751 --> 00:42:36,139
New Zealand is a world unto itself,
539
00:42:36,140 --> 00:42:38,911
a small planet in the Pacific.
540
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,420
Hot springs,
541
00:42:41,421 --> 00:42:44,339
majestic mountains,
542
00:42:44,340 --> 00:42:47,790
water and green in abundance.
543
00:42:49,201 --> 00:42:51,900
All this was the stage for the unique ascendancy
544
00:42:51,901 --> 00:42:55,570
of a bird, unless the humans
should put an end to it.
545
00:42:55,979 --> 00:42:58,579
Thus today the fight is set to save the parrots
546
00:42:58,580 --> 00:43:01,818
and other bird species from that type.
547
00:43:01,819 --> 00:43:04,829
A hopeless fight it is not.
41203
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