Aristotelia

This kea is named 'Aristotelia' after a wonderful genus of plant that grows in New Zealand. We have two species, Aristotelia serrata (which grows into a small tree and has large leaves) and Aristotelia fruticosa, a small leaved montane shrub, which is what was considered when naming this kea. Kea love feeding on the fruits of montane and alpine plants, especially with juicy attractive berries like this one. They are the most important seed dispersers for a range of these plants and the NZ flora might well suffer in the long term if kea are in decline. Aristotelia's pink bands match the fruit of this beautiful plant too. The plant genus 'Aristotelia' is named after the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, while Nestor (the genus that kea and kaka are in) means wise, and this presumably came from Nestor of Gerenia, the wise King of Pylos, described in Homer's 'Odyssey'.