Kookaburra
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ID#6
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Classification: Aves
Endangered status: low risk Habitat: open dry forest, woodland, city parks, and gardens A kookaburra is white, brown, buff, and black. It has a large, bulky beak and sharp talons. The size of a kookaburra is 15 1/2 – 16 ½ inches from head to tail. A female weighs 12 ½ - 17 oz. A male weighs 11-12 oz. It is about the same size as the Kingfisher, witch is one of its relatives. The wingspan is up to 90 cm. You usually see a kookaburra in groups or pairs. It is very rarely seen alone. The Kookaburra is not nocturnal, but diurnal because it has few predators and needs the light of day to hunt and find food. The Kookaburra eats lizards, snakes, invertebrates, eggs and nestlings; also fish and feeder scraps. To catch its food, a Kookaburra tackles its live prey, grabs its head so it will not attack in the process, and either batters it senseless or drops it from high height, then eats it. A kookaburra has a gestation period of 25-26 days. Kookaburras only breed in the spring, and they lay 2-5 eggs. There is not a certain name for the children the kookaburra have. A mother kookaburra usually lays 4 eggs, but if you find 5, then there was what some people call “a helper” laying that egg. A kookaburra just uses its “laugh” to mate at dawn and dusk. They usually breed 3 times a year. There are very many interesting facts about this animal. You see, a kookaburra is known for its laugh. It laughs all the time, like we talk all the time. Also, the kookaburra is carnivorous. It is very vilant. Another fact is that Kookaburras are threatened and mobbed by other birds, but nothing else. |