Size: Length; 45cm. Weight; 0.5 kg.

Habitat and Distribution: Relatively wet and cold woodland near water in eastern and southern Australia.

Age: Up to 20 years in captivity.

Groups and Breeding: This species tends to live in family groups consisting of a pair together with one or two ‘helpers’ that tend to be the previous year’s young. They are territorial and remain in the same area all year round. Kookaburras breed after about a year and typically make their nests 10 metres up in holes in the Mountain gum tree. The female lays 2 to 3 eggs which hatch after an incubation of 24 to 26 days. When the chicks hatch, they have a hook on their top jaw which is used to fight and kill the weakest chick if food is too scarce. The hook disappears at fledgling time.

Diet: Snakes, large lizards, worms, snails, insects, frogs, small birds and rodents.

• When kookaburra chicks hatch they are naked, blind and have short beaks and tails.
• Young auxiliary helpers wrestle using their beaks to establish dominance in the group.
• This species is famous for its laughing song which is shared with other neighbouring kookaburras to mark its territory and to greet others in the group.
• The kookaburra has a prominent bony ridge on the back of its skull, much like the Kingfisher, and strong muscles in the neck that aid in killing prey. It accomplishes this task by bashing its victims against a perch.
• The Laughing Kookaburra was once known as the laughing jackass.
• During the breeding season, mating is initiated by the female begging for food from the male.