A kākā bird at Te Anau Bird Sanctuary has gone global after it managed to turn on a tap with its beak to have a drink of water.
Video / Matt Martel
One of New Zealand’s endangered native birds has gone viral on social media not for its pretty colours but for its genius ability to perform a human task.
Matt Martel was travelling through Te Anau on holiday last week when he took a trip with his daughter to Punanga Manu o Te Anau/Te Anau Bird Sanctuary.
While he was observing some of our land’s stunning native birds, a kākā left him stunned when he witnessed the intelligent bird turning on a tap with its beak so it could have a drink of water.
Blown away by the bird’s ability, he pulled out his phone and started recording. The video has now been viewed more than 30 million times and has gone truly global.
Rata the kākā has gone viral after Kiwi man Matt Martel captured incredible footage of the native bird turning on a tap to take a drink. Photo / Matt Martel
“They have a bird park down there, it’s a really cool place. You can go in and look around. They had an enclosure with kākā in it and you can get really close to them. That’s when one started playing with the taps,” Martel told the Herald.
In the video, Rata the kākā is seen using his beak to turn the tap handle around to start the water.
He then put his beak into the tap and opened his mouth to take multiple gulps of water.
Not happy with the pressure the water was coming out at, he then turned it down so he could get his beak back into the tap to continue drinking.
The video, which was uploaded four days ago has had more than 30m views and received a whopping 1.3m likes on Instagram.
Martel, general manager and publisher for BusinessDesk, told the Herald he thought he’d capture the moment to share with friends and family. Now he has more than 90,000 followers.
“I decided to take a video and put it on Instagram. I’d usually get around 40 likes. Now I’m above a million inside a few days and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
“I had around 250 followers and now it’s above 90,000. Now I’m one of the biggest Instagram stars in the country, which is nonsense!
“I gained 10,000 followers while I slept last night. In my walk this morning I gained 2000 followers. It’s crazy how far spread the video has gone.”
Martel believes it’s likely Rata drinks from the tap every day given how expertly he performed the task designed for humans.
Rata loves turning the tap on for a drink of water while at home in the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. Photo / Matt Martel
DOC biodiversity supervisor Elicia Milne told the Herald that Rata is visiting from Queens Park Aviary in Invercargill and “loves to make things happen.”
“Rata is in Te Anau to keep Charlie company as kākā are very social and intelligent parrots that do better with company.
“He is a hand raised kākā, which has influenced his behaviour and particular interest in taps and other human made objects
“Rata loves making things happen. Playing with the tap in his enclosure is a daily treat. He’s strong, so we have to turn the tap off very hard at the end of his play session to avoid wasting water!”
Viewers from around the world chimed in after they were blown away by Charlie’s intelligence and willpower.
“More intelligent than anyone I’ve encountered in Canada,” one person wrote.
Another added: “It also knows don’t waste the water!”
“He must be the brand ambassador for the campaign ‘save water’,” a third joked.
The kākā is a large parrot belonging to the nestorinae family, a group that includes the kea and the extinct Norfolk Island kākā.
According to the Department of Conservation, North Island kākā are at risk, while South Island kākā are nationally vulnerable.
Chatham Islands kākā are now extinct.
When Europeans first arrived in New Zealand, they found kākā in abundance throughout the forests of both islands, but by 1930 the birds were localised to a few areas.
The Te Anau Bird Sanctuary, where Charlie lives, is set on the shores of Lake Te Anau, and is just a 20-minute walk from Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre.
Entry is free for unguided tours but the sanctuary is reliant on donations to continue operating.
At the sancturary you can see takahē, kākā, Antipodes Island parakeets, pateke/brown teal, and kōwhiowhio/whio/blue duck, among others such as tūī, kererū/New Zealand wood pigeon and pīwakawaka/fantails.
