kea

noun \ ˈkē-ə \

|Updated on: 24 Jul 2018

Definition of kea

: a large mostly dull green New Zealand parrot (Nestor notabilis) that is normally insectivorous but sometimes destroys sheep by slashing the back to feed on the kidney fat

Recent Examples of kea from the Web

In New Zealand, humans have slaughtered keas to the point of endangerment.

— katherine j. wu, Smithsonian, "How Humans Created the Ultimate Superpests," 9 July 2018
Along with two other New Zealand parrots, the kea and kaka, the kakapo belongs to the oldest living lineage of parrots.

— ed yong, The Atlantic, "The First Species to Have Every Individual’s Genome Sequenced," 13 Sep. 2017
The zoo announced its first successful hatching of a kea, a vulnerable New Zealand parrot, on Wednesday.

— danika worthington, The Denver Post, "Denver Zoo welcomes fluffy gray kea chick, bringing zoo population of New Zealand parrot species to 38," 29 Mar. 2017
The team then observed how the wild kea reacted to each sound.

— National Geographic, "These Parrots Can Make Other Parrots 'Laugh'—a First," 20 Mar. 2017
The baby lemur is the newest addition to the zoo, which also has celebrated the recent high-profile births of Umi the tapir, Dobby the giraffe, Miso-Chi the fishing cat and Scarlet the fluffy gray kea chick.

— The Denver Post, "Denver Zoo debuts Penny, a red ruffed lemur born in April," 18 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'kea.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.