LEGO Zoo #0011: Macaw Perch

I'm in the thickest clump of deadlines for the semester, so I had to push this design back by a week.  I'm also keeping it small.  The design in this playset demonstrates that not all enclosures need obvious barriers to keep the animals contained.  One popular and simple design for birds with clipped wings is to display them on a natural tree with plenty of roosting spots, and the birds will happily remain on their perches all day.  This one is designed for multiple species of macaw:

Thick natural foliage among the lower branches discourages the birds from climbing down to the ground, and keeping the upper canopy complete offers the birds shade from the sun:

Macaws are a colorful family of large pounds found in Central and South America.  They are highly intelligent and can live up to 70 years in captivity.  The perch allows zoo visitors to view the birds from below, as they would in the wild:

Pedro is a scarlet macaw, one of the  more common species.  He is feeding on one of the pieces of fruit attached to the perch daily by the keepers.  An advantage of using natural trees for perches is that branches that are too small to hold birds can still be used as skewers for food or supports for enrichment devices.

Maria is a hyacinth macaw, the longest species of parrot in the world, from beak to tail:

Macaws have incredible dexterity with their feet and can easily hang upside-down from a branch to reach food on lower branches.  Here, Maria is going for the banana offered to her by Andrea the docent:

Animals and Minifigures:
macaws (2), Andrea

Created with LEGO Digital Designer