Here's the New Zealand animal news for January 2021!
First, let's talk about disease detection dogs, not drug detection dogs.
Dog debuts to spot tree diseases
Two dogs who have been undergoing training for the past year or so have been scheduled to make their debut in the field for the first time. These dogs demonstrate their ability to smell things, like drug detection dogs, but they are not detecting drugs, but rather a disease that affects trees, known as blight.
Kauri, one of New Zealand's native trees, has been suffering from wilting in the Auckland area in recent years. Measures must be taken before the disease spreads further, but it takes several weeks to test whether the tree is infected with the disease. However, the dogs can instantly detect the disease. It is expected that they will make a great contribution to preventing the spread of wilting. The dogs are also trained not to be distracted by wild birds in the natural environment where they will be working.
Recently , a dog that detects positive cases of the new coronavirus at a basketball game became a hot topic in the United States. Dogs' sense of smell is being relied on all over the world.
Webcam celebrity hatches
A webcam managed by the Environment Agency shows a couple of Northern Royal Albatross seabirds 24 hours a day, and now their chicks have hatched successfully. This couple, who live on the Otago Peninsula at the bottom of the South Island, have been mating since 2017. During their third breeding season, which began streaming on September 14, 2020, they laid 41 eggs, of which 16 hatched.
Each year, this webcam focuses on one chick and broadcasts footage. This year, one egg was selected and rescued just as it was about to hatch. The hatching was monitored at a shelter to ensure the chick was not exposed to risks such as disease. After hatching healthy, it was returned to the nest, and now Environment Agency staff work 12 hours a day to support the chick's development, making sure it is healthy and that it is being fed by its parents.
You can watch the live feed from this webcam on YouTube, so you can see it clearly even at night.
*This video is currently unavailable.This video is especially worth watching. You can see staff weighing the chicks and the parent bird watching over them. The parent bird occasionally clicks its beak in a slightly wary manner, as if asking for the chick to be returned quickly, but it seems to know that the staff will not harm the chick. This is a rare video showing interaction between humans and wild animals. It is also worth watching because the staff remain calm throughout the video.
The Northern Royal Albatross is a type of albatross. It is the largest seabird in the world, with a wingspan of up to three meters.
They are also known to live long lives, usually into their 40s. One seabird affectionately known as "Grandma" raised her chicks at the age of 62.
The father bird and the chicks returned to the nest.
Muscles as chicken feed
Green Lipped Mussels are popular in New Zealand, a country rich in seafood. They are a type of mussel and can be purchased at any supermarket in New Zealand.
A new way to use unsellable mussels, such as those with bad color or shape, or those that are broken, has attracted attention and become news. The person who set his sights on mussels that would otherwise be thrown away is Rob Darby, founder of the poultry farm Frenz Egg .
We salvaged mussels that would have been thrown away, dried them overnight, crushed them up and transformed them into food for our free-range chickens.
Muscle meat is rich in calcium, omega 3, and protein. It is said to be particularly good at supplementing the protein that chickens need. And, it seems to be very delicious for chickens, too.
I'm as happy as a kid with ice cream
Darby said.
By the way, you can also eat this muscle at Bokumo , a restaurant run by Mr. Iwasu, who supervises and writes some of the articles for this site.
Please check Bokumo's social media for opening hours and menus during the COVID-19 pandemic!
Baby zebra born at Auckland Zoo
A baby zebra was born at the zoo in Oakland! It was able to stand up and run around at just one day old and is growing up well. The mother zebra just lost a three-month-old baby zebra last year. She seems to have settled down with the birth of her new baby, but she seems a bit overprotective.
Even national television reported it as "very important news."
