This rare parrot is inarguably one of the most intelligent on earth. Their ability to use tools is stunning, their social complexity is startling, and their cheekiness is unrivaled. Come hear a murder mystery, and learn about Macken's second-favorite animal, on this episode of Species.
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today's episode is partially a murder mystery, or it is a murder mystery in as much as a non-human |
| 0:08.5 | animal can be involved in murder. Predation mystery might be more accurate, but let's face it, |
| 0:15.1 | predation mystery just doesn't have the same ring to it. The victims in this story are the sheep of New Zealand. |
| 0:24.4 | The perpetrators are unknown, let's say. It all started in the 1800s, when sheep started showing |
| 0:32.8 | really bizarre wounds, deep lacerations, chunks of flesh just missing. Sometimes they'd even be |
| 0:41.1 | found dead and picked apart. The locals first thought it was some unknown livestock disease, |
| 0:49.3 | but some of them suspected it might be a kind of predator. And so they set up a night watch. |
| 0:56.1 | And what they claimed to discover was frankly outlandish. |
| 1:02.7 | They claimed the perpetrator was a parrot. |
| 1:08.3 | They claimed a parrot was eating their sheep alive. |
| 1:16.1 | Perhaps needless to say, many scientists thought this was an insane claim. |
| 1:22.6 | But they might not have gotten the last laugh. |
| 1:26.7 | Today we'll be talking about the Kia, Nester Notabilis. |
| 1:31.3 | I'm Mackin, this is species. |
| 1:34.3 | Welcome to the show. |
| 1:40.3 | This animal is my second favorite species. |
| 1:42.3 | It is also one of the most requested animals I've |
| 1:45.5 | ever talked about on this show. Seriously, probably every month since I first started, really since |
| 1:51.7 | the very beginning, I had people suggesting this as a potential animal episode. And frankly, |
| 1:57.7 | the reason I put it off for so long isn't because I didn't want to do it. |
| 2:00.9 | It's because I had so much to say. |
| 2:03.5 | So today's episode is going to run a little longer than usual. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Macken Murphy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Macken Murphy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.