Kid Territory:Critters: Laughing Kookaburra
Crikey weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is full-grown.
Crikey looks up at the sky to see if there are any hawks overhead, even though he is perfectly safe at the San Diego Zoo!
One of Crikey's trainers takes him out to meet some Zoo visitors.
Zoo name: Crikey
Species: Laughing kookaburra
Location: San Diego Zoo's Hunte Amphitheater
His story
Crikey is a laughing kookaburra and Hunte Amphitheater’s newest animal ambassador. He hatched on June 18, 2007, at a private breeding facility and was handled from a very young age so that he would be used to being touched and held by people. Crikey arrived at the San Diego Zoo's Hunte Amphitheater when he was just three months old.
His name
When a new animal is about to arrive at Hunte, it must be named! Names are often based on a place name from the natural habitat of the animal, or they are words in the native language of that area that describe the animal looks or personality. Occasionally, we pick names just because they are cute! In the kookaburra’s case, “Crikey” was chosen to honor Steve Irwin, who did so much to teach people about his native Australian animals. “Crikey!” is a British and Australian slang term that is about the same as “gosh!” or “yikes!” and Steve used to say it a lot.
Life at Hunte
Crikey has settled in very well to his life behind the scenes. He is a charming and sweet bird who is also very cute! The trainers like to talk to him and try to imitate kookaburra noises. When they do, he looks at them, puffs up his feathers, and eventually starts calling, or at least making little squawks! Crikey’s feathers, especially his crest, go up and down, and it gives him a whole range of different “looks” that show his moods.
Crikey spends the night in his own enclosure, where he loves to rest under the heat lamp. During the day he is moved to one of several different enclosures, where he can have more room to fly around. He also has a tub of water and he really enjoys bathing, usually in the late afternoon. He perches on the edge of the tub, dives in like a kingfisher, and then shakes himself off. After a bath, Crikey preens his feathers and stretches, which is very cute!
What's so funny?
Crikey’s call is something else: there’s a reason why they’re called a laughing kookaburra! His call starts out with a series of squawks, changes into a rising trill, and then he throws his head back and emits some sidesplitting laughter! Sometimes he throws in a couple of chimpanzee-like hoots and fades off with a few more “ha ha ha”s. It’s something that kookaburras usually do as a group in the morning and evening, which is why he likes to do it with the staff at the Hunte Amphitheater. And it’s REALLY loud!
Tasty insects
Crikey's menu at the San Diego Zoo includes mealworms, king worms, crickets, meat, minnows, and small mice. He doesn’t usually eat very much, and he definitely prefers the insects and mice to the meat. Mice and minnows are carried up to a branch and tossed around in the beak to position them just right. Sometimes Crikey gets some live crickets to chase down, which he really enjoys. He also likes to get live minnows in his water tub.
A kookaburra ambassador
So far, Crikey has learned to sit on the trainer’s hand. Kookaburras can hold their heads perfectly still while their body moves so that they can focus on prey while sitting on a swaying branch, and Zoo visitors love seeing Crikey do that. It looks like a reverse bobblehead! Before we got him, Crikey was trained to wear a little body harness and leash, which keeps him from flying away when he’s outside his enclosure or crate. The harness disappears into his feathers and you can hardly tell when he’s wearing it. He’s very good about the harness and also about being picked up and stroked by one of his trainers. Crikey is actually most comfortable when he is close to the trainer’s body. In the future, Crikey may be trained to do things like fly from person to person, call on cue, and perhaps “kill” a rubber snake, which is a natural kookaburra behavior.
Where you can see him
Crikey isn’t a part of our Wild Ones show yet, because he is very small and doesn’t know any trained behaviors other than sitting nicely, but perhaps someday he will be flying over the audience! For now, he is a great animal ambassador at parties and other functions, and you may see him at an unannounced animal encounter outside Hunte Amphitheater.
Sound Byte:
Listen to Crikey!
More
Animal Bytes: Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra
San Diego Zoo: Animal Shows
