New chick at Bristol Zoo Gardens for bird on brink of extinction
ONE of the rarest birds in the world has hatched a new chick thanks to efforts by keepers at Bristol Zoo Gardens.
A Socorro dove chick has hatched and is thriving in the zoo, marking a major success for the species which is extinct in the wild. It is the first time Socorro doves have successfully bred at Bristol Zoo in five years. The chick was one of two that hatched but sadly one of them died at a young age.
The last recorded sighting of a Socorro dove in the wild was in 1972. Now there are around just 100 held in captivity in zoos around the world – including 25 birds in six UK zoos. Coordinated conservation breeding of the birds by organisations such as Bristol Zoo has prevented the total extinction of the species.
Bristol Zoo's curator of birds Nigel Simpson said: "Sadly these birds now only exist in captivity, so to have this chick hatch and survive 40 years after they were last seen in the wild is a great achievement."
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Socorro doves were native to the island of Socorro, 600 miles off the western coast of Mexico. They died out after falling prey to a rising number of feral cats. Overgrazing sheep also destroyed their habitat.
Comments
by Lone_Ranger
Saturday, September 22 2012, 12:44PM
“Didn't this same bird have some chicks earlier in the week?”