Animal Diaries Archive

Amelio's new routine

8 June 2007

This week we have been focusing most of our attention on one of the larger members of our team. Amelio the Wedge-tailed Eagle has been out of the show for the past couple of weeks as he is learning a new routine to wow the patrons of the zoo with his amazing flying skills. His new routine does not utilize the lure that he once chased and will give him the chance to do some more flying for the crowd.

For the Wedge-tailed Eagles, the best place to appreciate them is in the air, so that’s where we want him to be, spreading his big 6ft wings for all to see. So, we had to make up some special feeders for him as most of the points that he flies to are out of our reach which makes it difficult to give him his rewards when he goes to the correct place. It did not take long for Amelio to recognize where his food now comes from and with his eagle eyesight, he can spot them from quite a distance and hones in on them with great accuracy. You can see in this weeks photo, Amelio during one of his training sessions in the Crocoseum earlier this week.

He is a very smart bird and has already found himself a way to shortcut his routine and get home to his tucker earlier. This we did not expect so we had to take him back just a short step and reinforce the perches that he has to go to. From this point on he has come forward in leaps and bounds and hopefully all going to plan he should be back out into the show for all of us to enjoy within the next couple of weeks.