Critter Profile: Arorangi!

rating: +69+x

Critter Profile: Arorangi!

Overview!

8528623525_15ef02a759_b.jpg

Name: Arorangi

Species: Strigops habroptilus (Kakapo)

Primary Caretaker: Terrestrial Team, Daniel Brooke

Diet: Ground-up leaves, nuts, fruit and seeds, along with plenty of sugar water to keep her goin’ strong

Housed: Wilson Wildlife Centre, Enclosure 16

Creature Features!

“Arorangi” is our name for our own lil’ kakapo! Though she doesn’t look like it, Arorangi is actually a parrot. Although she can’t fly or chirp like the rest of them, she has a charm of her own which just makes her unique and we love her all the more for it.

Kakapos are also known as ‘owl parrots’. It makes sense: Arorangi has a startlingly owlish face along with some lovely soft green plumage. She’s even nocturnal so you sure could be forgiven for thinking that Arorangi was some combination of the two.

Arorangi was actually brought to our little organisation here in Clackamas County all the way from New Zealand! New Zealand is a teeny country down by Australia. It really is incredible that Arorangi came from a place as small as that. The Supervisors had her specially shipped over on account of us being the "most reliable anomalous animal caretakers". Needless to say, we're touched.

Arorangi’s pretty old. So old that she had her 200th birthday last week! We don't know her precise birthday, but that's when we got her.

Anyhoo, being that old can get pretty tiring, so she naps a lot. But when Arorangi’s awake, she’s the sweetest little thing. You can come right up to her and give her a cuddle and she won’t mind it a bit. You gotta be careful about disturbing her naps, though. She can get pretty cranky.

History!

Strigops_habroptila_-Sirocco-6a.jpg

Arorangi having a little romp ‘round Enclosure 16!

Arorangi has been around for a good long time. The Supervisors told us when we first got her that they had run a few tests before sending her over to us and concluded that she’s around about 200 years old! She must have been a tough one to get all the way here. Now it’s our job to keep her safe and happy.

There are only around 140 of these cute ‘lil critters left alive, and most of them have been put on a few islands to keep them safe from predators and the like. Apparently, some of the people monitoring her noticed that she was living long past usual age of a kakapo. Luckily the Supervisors got involved before anything bad could happen and sent her over to us. Arorangi is nice and safe, so it seems like a good arrangement to me.

Special Needs and Accommodations!

Enclosure 13 was always designed to be nice and cosy for injured animals, so we knew instantly that it’d be the perfect place for our little Arorangi. We did a bit of shuffling around and walled off a spot that was just perfect for her. We threw in a few ferns and put some bark on the ground and she made herself right at home. Of course, later we had time to build a bigger enclosure, which was better suited for her needs.

The new Enclosure 16 has a small pond, a couple of perches, and even a little sugar-water dispenser. It’s also kept lit with a few red lights which Arorangi has a hard time seeing. How handy is that!

Arorangi is pretty easygoin’ on account of her age. Now I’m no spring chicken myself but going off of the number of hours of sleep she gets a day, she definitely has me beat. She spends most of her time sleeping and she usually only gets up late at night to have a small stroll and a drink. Unfortunately, this means Arorangi is a bit too old to take care of herself, so Daniel spends a lot of his time with her.

Notes about Arorangi!

Tim Wilson's Caretaking Notes.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License