Chester Zoo celebrates as 'incredibly rare' chicks hatch
Conservationists from Chester Zoo are celebrating after three "incredibly rare" birds have hatched as part of an international conservation project.The blue-eyed ground doves, which were reared at the Parque das Aves conservation centre in Brazil, are in danger of becoming extinct, the zoo said.Bird experts at the zoo have been working on the project alongside colleagues from the South American Country and the USA.The zoo's head of birds, Andrew Owen, travelled to Brazil to provide technical support for the project, alongside lead keeper for birds, Victoria Kaldis, who helped with the hand-rearing of the chicks.
The zoo said just 11 adult members of the species lived in the wild, but they hoped that chicks hatched in human care could help turn the tide.The chicks were hatched after being incubated as part of a joint effort between Chester Zoo, Parque das Aves and SAVE Brasil, with support from Toledo Zoo and Bronx Zoo in the USA. It said this was the most successful hatch since the project began, boosting the survival odds of one of the most endangered birds in the world.In 2015, the blue-eyed ground dove - Columbina cyanopis - was rediscovered after there had been no confirmed sightings for over 70 years.The species, which is only found in Brazil, faces threats in the wild including human-caused fires and climate change.
Chester Zoo experts were among a team which carefully selected and incubated a small number of wild-laid eggs, the zoo said."It's a real privilege for Chester Zoo to be involved in the work to help conserve the blue-eyed ground dove," Mr Owen said."This unique species is on the brink of extinction and without the dedication and passion of all the conservationists involved, including Chester Zoo's bird staff, this bird may be lost forever."He said the arrival of the chicks built on the successes of 2023 and 2024 and doubled the conservation-breeding insurance population.
Mr Owen said that "around-the-clock care and attention are needed to rear these tiny and delicate birds". It was hoped that the doves, once mature, would start to breed in their purpose-built aviaries at Parque das Aves, he added. Paloma Bosso, technical director of Parque das Aves, said it was "a joy and also a great responsibility" to see the three chicks."Each hatching represents a real chance to reverse the fate of this species," she said. Parque das Aves is now home to six blue-eyed ground doves. The species is critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Utility workers uncover 1,000-year-old pre-Inca mummy in Peru's capital
Utility workers excavating trenches to expand the network of natural gas pipelines in Peru's capital have uncovered a pre-Inca mummy approximately 1,000 years old, barely half a meter (20 inches) from the surface. The mummy had gone unnoticed despite urban development in a district of Lima where former agricultural fields have been converted into working-class neighborhoods in recent decades. Jose Aliaga, an archaeologist with utility Cálidda, on Wednesday said the unearthed mummy, found in a seated position and covered by a bundle, still has dark brown hair. 'We found remains and evidence that there could be a pre-Hispanic burial,' Aliaga said. He said workers made the discovery last week. Lima, located in a valley irrigated by three rivers fed from the Andes, housed human civilizations thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in 1535. Now home to 10 million people, the city has more than 400 archaeological sites, most of which are intertwined with the current urban fabric. 'It is very common to find archaeological remains on the Peruvian coast, including Lima, mainly funerary elements: tombs, burials, and, among these, mummified individuals,' said Pieter Van Dalen, dean of the College of Archaeologists of Peru. Van Dalen, who is not involved in the discovery, said mummies on the Peruvian coast are usually found mummified naturally, generally in desert areas, with the skin dehydrated by the summer heat. He explained that other unearthed remains have been found to have undergone mummification procedures for cultural reasons and are usually discovered in a seated position with their hands covering their faces. Jesús Bahamonde, director of the archaeological monitoring plan of metropolitan Lima at Cálidda, said the mummy found last week would have belonged to a society of fishermen of the Chancay culture, which flourished between 1,000 and 1,470 AD.
BBC News
21 hours ago
- BBC News
Chester Zoo celebrates as 'incredibly rare' chicks hatch
Conservationists from Chester Zoo are celebrating after three "incredibly rare" birds have hatched as part of an international conservation blue-eyed ground doves, which were reared at the Parque das Aves conservation centre in Brazil, are in danger of becoming extinct, the zoo experts at the zoo have been working on the project alongside colleagues from the South American Country and the zoo's head of birds, Andrew Owen, travelled to Brazil to provide technical support for the project, alongside lead keeper for birds, Victoria Kaldis, who helped with the hand-rearing of the chicks. The zoo said just 11 adult members of the species lived in the wild, but they hoped that chicks hatched in human care could help turn the chicks were hatched after being incubated as part of a joint effort between Chester Zoo, Parque das Aves and SAVE Brasil, with support from Toledo Zoo and Bronx Zoo in the USA. It said this was the most successful hatch since the project began, boosting the survival odds of one of the most endangered birds in the 2015, the blue-eyed ground dove - Columbina cyanopis - was rediscovered after there had been no confirmed sightings for over 70 species, which is only found in Brazil, faces threats in the wild including human-caused fires and climate change. Chester Zoo experts were among a team which carefully selected and incubated a small number of wild-laid eggs, the zoo said."It's a real privilege for Chester Zoo to be involved in the work to help conserve the blue-eyed ground dove," Mr Owen said."This unique species is on the brink of extinction and without the dedication and passion of all the conservationists involved, including Chester Zoo's bird staff, this bird may be lost forever."He said the arrival of the chicks built on the successes of 2023 and 2024 and doubled the conservation-breeding insurance population. Mr Owen said that "around-the-clock care and attention are needed to rear these tiny and delicate birds". It was hoped that the doves, once mature, would start to breed in their purpose-built aviaries at Parque das Aves, he added. Paloma Bosso, technical director of Parque das Aves, said it was "a joy and also a great responsibility" to see the three chicks."Each hatching represents a real chance to reverse the fate of this species," she said. Parque das Aves is now home to six blue-eyed ground doves. The species is critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Country diary: Into the twilight zone with horseshoe bats
A little before nightfall, we enter the river gorge equipped with fast-failing eyes and a box that will let us listen to what we cannot hear. As long as the backdrop to the crescent moon is still blue, we can almost outperform this bat detector. We start to see shapes flittering around the treetops on the opposite side of the gorge, but it's not until they draw nearer and swoop directly overhead that the machine buzzes and spits at around 55kHz. That means these are soprano pipistrelles. Our aural targets tonight are the lesser and greater horseshoe bats that hang up by day in the limestone caves and the tunnels and flues of the long-abandoned ironworks. Rather tidily, horseshoes' echo-locating calls register at between 80kHz and 110kHz, far higher than other species. They also have a sonic signature that is worth waiting for. When twilight comes, we are lost in the grey and engulfed by pipistrelles. The detector has dialled up a victory. There must be lots of bats crisscrossing in front of us, for although we catch only half-glimpses, the detector is on overdrive, recording the spatters of clicks from feeding buzzes as the bats close in on their prey. Somehow, above this electronic mush, I catch a loud splash from the river below and we turn the detector off. It sounds like a toddlers' paddling pool party, a full-on splashing session, except that instead of infant shrieks, there are little 'huff-puffs' from the water. A mother otter with two, maybe three cubs. One submerges and swims in front of us, and we see its tail and sleeked body arc and turn away. We can barely see the otters; they can feel fish underwater. The little family slides into a back channel and there is silence. The detector is on again and now horseshoe bats have arrived, hunting all around us. Their calls express as a messy symphony of alien bleeps and burbly warbles, better suited to a 1960s sci-fi movie. Our device has rendered this high-frequency chatter into outlandish sounds to our ears. But what do the bats hear? Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
