one two
hey what's up creatures it's em i'm back
today with another creature feature
the series where i tell you a little bit
more about an animal which you may or
may not know much about
if you haven't already remember to hit
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official
as australia day is nearly upon us i
decided to pick an australian animal
today i chose
baba kook the laughing kookaburra so if
you happen to be watching this on
australia day very happy australia day
to you
one more disclaimer before i bring in
the star of today's show
i just want to let people know who might
be new here welcome
if you're new to my channel you might
not know this i'm actually an animal
educator and i've spent the last 10 15
years
traveling around the uk talking about
various different animals with a whole
menagerie of different creatures
so i'm very used to being hands-on with
creatures i've been working with them
extensively for a very long time
the particular bird that you're going to
see in today's video is not actually
mine
she is in fact my boyfriend's kookaburra
yes
dany is a zoologist and also a
professional animal educator as well
so we have a very special permit for our
kookaburra here at home
that's not to say that just because you
see something on youtube you should
quickly rush out and buy it so just
realize that in this video you're seeing
a very quick snippet of the day where
i'm probably going to show you the best
parts and not show you the parts where i
get bitten and bleed
baba kukul you'll meet in a moment is
actually a working bird he is not a pet
and i don't endorse them as such
also before anybody has a fit this is
all foe just so you know
it's not real if you hear any cooing in
the background that is just my doves
it's not the kookaburra kookaburras
don't coo they laugh
like maniacs
this handsome bird over here is baba
kook named after the
baba duke because he is equally as
terrifying
kookaburras were initially native to the
eucalyptus forest
of east australia but now they've
actually been introduced to the west of
australia
now they're not only found throughout
australia they're also found in tasmania
as well as in new guinea they're also
highly adaptable so although they're
very happy in the eucalyptus forests and
out in open
areas you will find them in suburban
areas and some cities
laughing kookaburras are famous for
their loud calls
here's babaku calling on dany's hand if
you are using headphones
you have been warned
slowing down the kookaburras call is the
creepiest sound
let's hear the kookaburra laugh at
quarter speed
kookaburras are also very territorial
creatures
they will use that amazing piercing call
that they have which sounds like
maniacal laughter
to claim ownership of an area now look
closely at this bird
what does he remind you of have a quick
guess
bing time's up if you guessed kingfisher
you are
absolutely correct kookaburras are the
largest
members of the kingfisher family now you
might think that being in the kingfisher
family
babaku could be an amazing fisher they
much prefer
tree-dwelling creatures frogs lizards
small mammals
so kook is an expert at actually picking
lizards and frogs off of trees
kookaburras are obligate carnivores
which means they only eat
meat don't do what i'm about to do i'm
feeding him with my hands
um don't do that you should usually use
tongs but i have as usual misplaced to
my tongs
so my fingers are in the firing line
today for you guys
you're welcome i am going to be feeding
baba cook's regular food
which is a whole mouse it's not live we
actually buy them frozen in bulk
most people's freezers have ice cream in
a bag of peas our freezer is chock full
of mice and rats
so yes just a disclaimer you might want
to skip ahead a little bit if seeing a
dead mouse is upsetting to you i'm not
going to be waving
the mouse around with any great detail
it's just
he needs to get fed okay the mouse is
coming okay this could go one of two
ways i might be about to lose my finger
but i hope not
ready let's go
there you go he literally just snatches
it and flies off
good boy let's see you swallow that
mouse look at that all the way down
there wasn't that tasty
we do still have a little bit of a mouse
tail
going down there like a little bit of
spaghetti you got a little something
something on your face over there coop
kookaburras are incredibly vocal
creatures not only
do they do their amazing maniacal call
that sounds like a
laugh um but they can also chirp they
can squawk they can growl
we're gonna hear some more vocalizations
in a second because he doesn't eat just
one mouse a day no baba kook has
two mice every single day
is that nice you let me know when you're
ready for your second one
so kookaburras are indeed an obligate
carnivore they can only eat
meat they would physically not be able
to survive on any other kinds of food in
the wild kookaburras would be preying
mostly on lizards they are expert lizard
catchers
kookaburras have the amazing ability to
focus on something far away
and to keep their head completely still
even as their body is moving
this is so that they can focus on an
item of prey far away
and they can actually focus while those
tree branches move
that way he doesn't lose sight of his
prey and that way he doesn't get too
dizzy either
are you puffy and excited or puffy
irritated i i just can't tell
i really can't that beak by the way is
no joke that beak can slice your fingers
open they are able to do immense damage
with that beak which is razor
sharp in every single one of bubba kooks
aviaries he has sandpaper over some of
his perches
and that way he can file down his beak
to an incredibly sharp point
so that beak there is prime condition
that beak can do
incredible damage you ready ready
are you ready for it all right one two
three good boy good catch
well this is awkward
right now baba cook is eating on my hand
but if he were on a branch and he wanted
to further tenderize that mouse
he would get the mouse in the middle of
his beak pass it backwards and forwards
to smush it down and to crush the bones
and also he would hit it
on the side of a rough ledge and that
way it breaks the bones and tenderizes
the meat
it's gruesome you want to give it back
can i have it
can i have it can i have it oh
and maybe not just like chickens
actually have a
crop and they have the largest longest
crop of
all birds and that crop is where they
will stash their food
have you ever heard this clip
the movie flipper made that sound like
very very famous
but it's actually not made from a
dolphin at all it's a kookaburra
sped up
mind blown so what everyone believes is
that
famous dolphin sound is actually made by
a kookaburra
it's just that they sped it up so it
sounded a lot more like a
dolphin if there's anything true about
australia it's that australia loves its
barbecues there's just one problem if
you live in australia when it comes to
barbecues
and that's these guys kookaburras are
known thieves
if you're having a nice barbecue outside
these guys will not hesitate to swoop
down
and grab your sausage yes straight off
the bbq
all right mouse number two is down the
hatch
yes oh almost you got a tail sticking
out your mouth
as i was saying kookaburras are known
thieves and if you're having
a nice barbecue outside these guys will
not hesitate to snatch some sausages
or some meat from the grill they have no
fear whatsoever and these are
expert flyers they will literally die
from you and steal your meat
we actually at home feed barbecue live
fish twice a month
now although i don't personally take any
pleasure in watching another animal kill
another animal
it is also a necessity because inside
fish is a vitamin called b12
and if you freeze a fish it actually
loses a large percentage of b12
which is essential to bubba cook's diet
we're going to insert some footage so
that you guys at home can see just how
well
baba cook can indeed fish
ah
[Music]
aah
although these birds do look majestic
and very regal
they do have two kind of gross habits
gross habit number one they will
actually shake
excess water from their prey which gets
stuck in their mouth
and they will do this by shaking their
heads and they can shake their heads
so fast that it genuinely sounds like a
maraca
[Applause]
[Music]
and if you are standing near a
kookaburra when they decide to shake
their head
you are going to get covered in excess
waters
and gross habit number two as you've
seen kookaburras swallow their prey
whole but they can't actually digest
every part of their prey
fur and bones cannot be digested by
kookaburras
so how do you get rid of bones
and fur if it's already in your crop the
answer comes in the form of
pellets yes pellets many birds of prey
will produce
pellets and kookaburras are no exception
all the bones and fur that cannot be
digested
forms into something that looks like a
very large pill
and he will actually bring this back up
usually once or twice a day
now if myself or danny doesn't
immediately find these pellets
bubba kook will play with his pellet
yes he will physically fly to the floor
and pick it up and throw it around so
that it breaks up and becomes lots of
particles of
partially digested animal i like to
think of it as
modern art when it comes to lifespan the
average lifespan of a kookaburra
is anything between 15 to 20 years in
captivity it can of course be a little
bit more
and in the wild it can be a little bit
less as they do have predators
to contend with kookaburras can be
picked off as an item of prey
by lizards feral cats are a big problem
for kookaburras and of course
larger birds and birds of prey
kookaburras are not exactly a sexually
dimorphic creature
which means that you cannot tell the
difference between the sexes
just by looking at them so how do we
know that barbacooc is male
with some birds it's not easy to tell
the difference between males and females
sometimes you either have to wait for
the females to start laying eggs and
this might be the only way to tell
for cook we sent some of his feathers
away to a special laboratory where they
ran tests to determine kook's sex
we actually thought that he was a female
for over a year
so it was a bit of a shock to find out
that she was in fact
a boy i still call him a girl by
accident every now and then
male kookaburras do have more blue
colored feathers on the base of their
tails but this
can vary knowing kook sex is very useful
for us for when we bring home a
companion for him in the future
and that is all that we have time for
today
if you learned something new leave me a
comment down below to let me know what
your favorite fact was
also if you are currently down under
then have a very happy australia day in
a couple of days time
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hold up it's competition time yes i am
doing a competition
slash giveaway with an array of awesome
animal themed prizes
this is how the competition slash
giveaway is going to work so make sure
that you're paying good attention
in order to enter you'll have to have a
twitter account as this is where i'm
going to be announcing the winner and
it's also going to be how i'm going to
contact the winner
through twitter down the line i might
consider doing an instagram giveaway as
well but this one is in particular
for twitter and those who have twitter
accounts all you have to do to enter is
to
draw a picture of your favorite animal
that you've seen here
on my channel it could be presto or
voodoo rice and beans
dobby or nifla it could be danny he
technically counts because he's kind of
hairy like a bear
once you have drawn your picture and
it's ready make sure that you put your
twitter handle underneath
so everyone can see who actually drew it
i will then take those pictures and put
it on my official
facebook page which is
atomzotticofficial and i will allow the
public to vote
voting will be open from today all the
way through until the 31st
of january 2018. now this is important i
will only be able to contact the winner
if you have your twitter handle
written on your picture so please make
sure that you put your twitter handle at
whatever the name is so that i can
easily find you and identify who
is the winner of the picture the winner
of this competition will be announced
through
all my different social media but
especially on my twitter and my facebook
so make sure that you're monitoring
those two to see if you've won
i will personally follow whoever wins
this competition
and i will send a video saying your
twitter handle and congratulating you
letting know that you have won
this is how you'll know that you are the
legitimate winner there are a couple of
prizes that will be sent to the winner
including
a brand new pair of brookstone wireless
cat earphones
so thank you very much to brookstone for
providing me with a pair of earphones
for this giveaway if you guys want to
show some love to brookstone
go and head over to their twitter and
let them know that exotic is doing a
giveaway
with their earphones i will need to know
an address to send you your prizes so
please ask your parents permission
before entering this competition also
only
one entry per person thank you very much
no multiples multiples will be
disqualified all the details for this
competition can be found in the
description box below so read them
carefully as it is almost australia day
i'm sorry was that really offensive i
tried to do an australian accent it
didn't work for me don't even think you
see he's already trying to eat me
what are you doing today i chose baba
kook
the laughing kookaburra not you
crows go away thank you guys all so much
for watching i will see you in another
video soon
bye don't forget to subscribe