Chester Zoo Zoo News 15th March 09

I agree Maisie, also I like to eat my picnic in peace and quiet, both the Jubilee lawn and now the Arara lawn have playgrounds. Most of the other grassed areas have gone, and been replaced by picnic tables situated on tree bark. The kids on Sunday had a great time throwing and kicking the bark everywhere.

You have the same name as my mum.
 
Despite being right in the middle between several popular animals, the birds in the Arara Aviaries hardly get noticed. In fact i dont think i've ever seen anyone except myself looking at them.
 
If you go on the same day as me, there will be two people looking at them. I like to watch the turacos.
 
I'm fascinated by the touraco's amazing eye makeup, and the monal's shininess. I can't imagine what evolutionary advantage those feathers give unless you want to hide out in some psychedelic hippy den, but it's very pretty... :D

Bongorob, I'm technically a Maria, but someone a long time ago decided to rename me, and the nickname stuck.
 
Maisie said:
I'm fascinated by the touraco's amazing eye makeup, and the monal's shininess. I can't imagine what evolutionary advantage those feathers give unless you want to hide out in some psychedelic hippy den, but it's very pretty... :D
Click to expand...

Distinctive (non-camouflage) coloration is often linked to either mate selection (as with male monals' plumage) or communication (I would suspect the facial patterns of turacos are probably to do with recognising your own species in the forest) - both of which can potentially convey an evolutionary advantage strong enough to outweigh the disadvantages of being more visible to predators.
 
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