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The kea is the only alpine parrot in the world. Forty-eight centimeters of olive-green feathers living above the tree line in the snow of New Zealand's Southern Alps, solving multi-step puzzles at the level of great apes, and the only known non-mammal that laughs contagiously. Fewer than 5,000 remain. Most of them are currently dismantling someone's rental car.
By Christopher KliebensteinThe kea is the only alpine parrot in the world. Forty-eight centimeters of olive-green feathers living above the tree line in the snow of New Zealand's Southern Alps, solving multi-step puzzles at the level of great apes, and the only known non-mammal that laughs contagiously. Fewer than 5,000 remain. Most of them are currently dismantling someone's rental car.