The dolphin call in the television series Flipper (1964-7) is a modified kookaburra call.The call is heard in The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Cape Fear (1962), The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and other films.Heard in some of the early Johnny Weissmuller films, the first occurrence was in Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938).In the short story (Barry Wood's "Nowhere to Go").įilm Three newly hatched kookaburra chicks.In William Arden's 1969 book, The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow (one of the Three Investigators series for young readers), the laughing kookaburra is integral to the plot.The opening theme from ABC was the basis for a children's book by Brooke Nicholls titled Jacko, the Broadcasting Kookaburra - His Life and Adventures.The call of a kookaburra nicknamed "Jacko" was for many years used as the morning opening theme by ABC radio stations, and for Radio Australia's overseas broadcasts. The other mascots were Millie the Echidna and Syd the Platypus. Olly the Kookaburra was one of the three mascots chosen for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The children's television series Splatalot! includes an Australian character called "Kookaburra" (or "Kook"), whose costume includes decorative wings that recall the bird's plumage, and who is noted for his distinctive, high-pitched laugh. Kookaburras have also appeared in several video games, including ( Lineage II, Battletoads, and World of Warcraft). The distinctive sound of the laughing kookaburra's call resembles human laughter, is widely used in filmmaking and television productions, as well as certain Disney theme-park attractions, regardless of African, Asian, or South American jungle settings. Australian law protects native birds, including kookaburras. Conservation Īll kookaburra species are listed as least concern. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory. They are territorial, except for the rufous-bellied, which often live with their young from the previous season. In zoos, they are usually fed food suitable for birds of prey.Īlthough most birds will accept handouts and take meat from barbecues, feeding kookaburras ground beef or pet food is not advised, because they do not include enough calcium and roughage. Unlike many other kingfishers, they rarely eat fish, although they have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. Kookaburras are almost exclusively carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles, and the young of other birds. This is noticeable in the blue-winged and the rufous-bellied, where males have blue tails and females have reddish-brown tails.īehaviour Close-up of a kookaburra in Sydney, Australia This suggests that these two species evolved in isolation, possibly during a period when Australia and New Guinea were more distant. Unusually for close relatives, the laughing and blue-winged species are direct competitors in the area where their ranges now overlap. Blue-winged kookaburra ( Dacelo leachii) – northern Australia, southern New Guinea.Laughing kookaburra ( Dacelo novaeguineae) – native to eastern Australia, introduced to southwest.Rufous-bellied kookaburra ( Dacelo gaudichaud) – lowland New Guinea.Spangled kookaburra ( Dacelo tyro) – Aru Islands, southern New Guinea.Shovel-billed kookaburra ( Dacelo rex) – upland New Guinea.Classification and species įive species of kookaburra can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands: The shovel-billed kookaburra was previously classified in the monotypic genus Clytoceyx, but was reclassified into Dacelo based on phylogenetic evidence. A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus Dacelo, as then defined, was paraphyletic. The name Dacelo is an anagram of alcedo, the Latin word for a kingfisher. The type species is the laughing kookaburra. The genus Dacelo was introduced by English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. Though they belong to the larger group known as " kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water. They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savannah, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. The loud, distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. Kookaburras (pronounced / ˈ k u k ə b ʌ r ə/) are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28 and 47 cm (11 and 19 in) in length and weigh around 300 g (11 oz). Shovel-billed kookaburra ( Clytoceyx rex)Ĭladogram based on the molecular analysis by Andersen and colleagues published in 2017.
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