18 Sep 2018

Kea use sticks in first NZ case of non-human tool use

From Morning Report, 7:57 am on 18 September 2018

The kea - a famously mischievous native bird - has figured out how to use tools, the first case of non-human tool use recorded in New Zealand. Researchers have found that kea in the South Island's Murchison Mountains have been using sticks to get food out of stoat traps. One of the report's authors, Gavin Hunt, tells Susie Ferguson about the findings.