The Clarinet BBoard

The Zookeeper's Wife

Author: lj  Date:   2007-10-10 23:49 I'm reading "The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story" by naturalist/poet Diane Ackerman (it's the true story of a Polish zookeeper's wife, based on her diary and other sources, about how she and her husband helped save over three hundred people--resistance activists and refugee Jews--during Hitler's reign), and I came across a very evocative description. She discusses the zoo's odors, "some subtle, some almost sickening at first," from the quite disgusting hyenas to birds with tangerine-smelling feathers. Right about in the middle of the spectrum comes this: "The kakapo, a black-feathered flightless parrot with a shocking white eye and orange beak, smells like an old clarinet case." Just thought I'd share that. Have any of you ever smelled a kakapo?

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Re: The Zookeeper's Wife

Author: denner22  Date:   2007-10-11 09:42 There are meant to be fewer than 100 Kakapo in New Zealand, so I do not know if they smell like an old clarinet case. I have an unused old Yamaha case that does not have any smell that would be like a parrot...... still I guess it was a good story! David

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