Rainbow Lorikeets at Edinburgh Zoo
Our new Rainbow Landings exhibit houses 65 rainbow lorikeets that visitors can go in along side in order to get a really close encounter. Nectar is available to purchase for anyone wanting to feed the birds.
The rainbow lorikeets at the zoo feed on nectar from visitors throughout the day. The amount of nectar the visitors feed the birds is closely monitored to ensure that they get enough. They also receive nectar first thing in the morning, and nectar and fruit last thing at the end of the day from the staff. Their favourite fruit is pomegranate.
There are males and females in the group at Rainbow Landings, and some of the pairs do breed. There are nest boxes in a back, away from the show area, to give the birds some privacy. However, some of the birds like the exhibit so much that they would rather make their own nest by digging out a hole under the logs in the potoroo area of the exhibit. The lorikeets’ eggs are usually laid April-June and hatch around 26 days later.
Rainbow lorikeets are very curious, inquisitive animals, and they enjoy sitting on people’s heads and exploring new items such as cameras and glasses. There are also 2 other rainbow lorikeets that can be seen flying free in our hilltop shows. These two cheeky brothers were hand-reared because they were rejected by their parents. They enjoy demonstrating all of their amazing natural behaviours up at the hilltop arena.
Where you can see them at Edinburgh Zoo
You can see and feed our lorikeets in Rainbow Landings, their purpose-built indoor tropical house. We also have brothers Irwin and Boyd who fly in our animal presentations.
Rainbow lorikeets in the wild
In the wild, rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) have a very large range. Places where rainbow lorikeets can be found in the wild include Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. These birds live in rain forests, coastal bush, and woodland areas. They eat fruits and the pollen and nectar from flowers.
Rainbow lorikeets have a brush-like tongue which they use to sweep out the pollen and nectar from the flowers. They also have four toes on each foot; two of them point forward and two point backwards. This means that they have a really good grip, allowing them to move around the vines and branches in the forests. They can also use these feet to allow them to hang upside-down to reach into the flowers.
Because of their widespread and large population, rainbow lorikeets are listed as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN.
IUCN Red List category: Least concern