Come along to hear about the world's only alpine parrot, the clowns of the mountains, the threats they face and what everyone can do to protect them.
Kea have evolved to survive in an extremely harsh and variable mountain environment. Although they are scarce across their 3.5 million hectare range, they are often concentrated in areas of human habitation. As a result they now face even more challenges and threats to their future.
The Kea Conservation Trust was set up to assist in conservation of wild Kea (Nestor notabilis) in their natural habitat and to increase the husbandry standards and advocacy potential of those Kea held in captive facilities within New Zealand.
Speaker: Dr. Lorne Roberts, Senior Lecturer & Academic Leader, Environmental and Animal Sciences, Unitec.
Lorne co-founded the Kea Conservation Trust in 2006, and has since climbed up and down the mountains in the South Island researching kea populations. He is involved with an advocacy programme that tours the South Island in order to educate the human inhabitants about the demise of this unique endemic mountain parrot. He has spoken at zoo conferences in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand as well as at educational conferences.
You can see Lornes full profile here.
